Gut tops first Crans Montana training run on new slope

Lara Gut in Crans Montana (GEPA/Wolfgang Grebien)

CRANS MONTANA, Switzerland – Just a few days after the Olympics came to an end, the women’s World Cup tour is back in full swing with downhill and super combined races scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, respectively, in Switzerland. The last time the ladies had the opportunity to race in Crans Montana was back in March 2010.

This year a completely new track has been designed to welcome the World Cup racers and fresh Olympic medalists. Four million Swiss francs and four months of labor have resulted in the ladies’ debut of the Mont-Lachaux slope. The new slope was inaugurated at the end of January with great success, as three men’s Europa Cup races were held on the hill.

The start for Thursday’s first training run was originally planned at 10:15 a.m. but was delayed by 45 minutes due to the amount of work needed to fully prepare the piste following fresh snowfall overnight. Fog further delayed the completion of the run intermittently throughout the day.

Switzerland’s Lara Gut managed to tame the new slope and was the fastest down with a time of 1:34.32, more than one second ahead of the rest of the field. Austria’s Regina Sterz and Andrea Fischbacher finished second and third, respectively, 1.06 and 1.07 off the pace. Americans Stacey Cook and Julia Mancuso punched into eighth and 11th, while downhill Olympic champions Dominique Gisin and Tina Maze finished further back in 13th and 23rd. The relatively warm conditions together with foggy sections along the course made it difficult for several of the racers.

Currently sitting in sixth position in the downhill standings and more than 200 points behind leader Maria Hoefl-Riesch, Lara Gut is seeking a second downhill victory this season which would be her sixth overall.

“The aim today was to see what that new slope was about,” Gut said. “The tack is good and the course is interesting. We can see that it is an old slope that has been modernized. Some sections are narrow; we don’t have a lot of room on the sides, as we are kind of used to boulevards. The snow is quite soft so we weren’t fast today. We just have to hope that the snow and the weather will be with us on race day.”

Viktoria Rebensburg will miss the Crans Montana races with a middle ear infection, her team announced.

The ladies will get another chance to find the best line on the Mont-Lachaux track tomorrow with a second training run scheduled in the morning.

Release courtesy of FIS

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