Gut to undergo knee surgery
ST. MORITZ, Switzerland–As reported on Friday, Lara Gut suffered an injury during slalom training for the World Championship alpine combined. We now know the severity of the diagnosis: a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament and a meniscus tear. The 2016 World Cup overall winner will be operated on in a few days when the inflammation of her knee has gone down.
An injury like this means months of recovery before returning snow, meaning Gut will not compete anymore this season. This leaves Mikaela Shiffrin with a massive advantage in the World Cup overall standings. The American currently has 1203 points while Gut has 1023. The next best athletes are Sofia Goggia of Italy with 789 points, and Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia with 785 points.
Gut could have threatened Shiffrin’s lead during the upcoming super-G and alpine combined races at Crans Montana, Switzerland and in the speed events in Jeongseon, South Korea. However, with only one month of competition left this season including the World Cup GS and slalom at Squaw Valley, Calif. and Gut off the slopes, the future looks bright for Shiffrin.