Brignone vs. Bad Kleinkirchheim: Italian Comes Out on Top

When the going gets tough, Federica Brignone gets going. The Italian thrives where many of her competitors fall victim.

“Normally, when the race is tough, I’m better,” she told SRF. “I love to turn. I love to go fast. I love when you don’t feel good, so I think it’s kind of my conditions because it’s all in the head and you have to attack.”

Brignone’s self-evaluation proved true in Saturday’s World Cup super-G race in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria, as she charged to the second super-G win of her career and her second World Cup win of the season. She was joined on the podium by Switzerland’s Lara Gut and Austria’s Cornelia Huetter.

The track not only demanded that the Italian break out her best technical skiing, but the bumpy track called for bravery and finesse. That’s not to mention the not-so-sweet sugary snow that has plagued the bottom section of the Franz Klammer track all week, forcing organizers to cancel a training run, move the super-G to Saturday and push the downhill to Sunday in order to work on the track.

Brignone, who ran bib 9, had the slight disadvantage of a later bib on a deteriorating course, but was ultimately happy with her choice, so she could get course feedback.

“I think it was good to start in front for the slope, but I was thinking, after the inspection, that I was happy not to have number one. Actually, for my line, I didn’t change things at all, but looking at Sofia and Lindsey, I think it helped me a lot.”

Two victories in the last month bodes well for the multi-discipline skier heading into the Olympic Winter Games. This February will mark her third Games and Brignone will be hunting for her first medal.

Image Credit: GEPA / Christian Walgram

Saturday’s second-place finisher, Gut, will also be in the hunt for Olympic hardware next month, looking to improve on her bronze in downhill from Sochi. Gut has spent this season finding her rhythm again after last season’s ACL tear. She managed to podium in Lake Louise, Canada, back in December, but it’s clear Gut is still looking for her old consistent speed. At this point last season, she already had 6 World Cup podium results including wins in giant slalom in super-G.

That said, the fact that she could land on the podium–only 0.18 seconds away from the win–after hooking her hand on a delay and skiing the remainder of the course without a pole is a good sign.

“For sure, it’s great,” Gut shared. “It’s not about just being confident or not. It’s coming back where I was and getting those things back–not just skiing, but competing for a win.”

Gut is one of three Swiss women to finish on a World Cup super-G podium this season, alongside Jasmine Flury and Michelle Gisin, who finished first and second respectively in St. Moritz on Dec. 9. Gisin finished in 14th place this time around, while Flury landed in 22nd position.

Huetter rounded out the podium in third position, 0.46 seconds off the winning pace. Like Gut, she is just about a year out from an ACL injury. She won her first race back, the downhill in Lake Louise, Canada, but has not been on the podium since. Her success on Saturday was punctuated by the fact that it was a win in front of a home crowd. So close to home, in fact, that she estimated nearly 100 friends and family were there to cheer her on.

“My boyfriend is 20 minutes away from here. That’s a home-home race, so it’s amazing,” she shared. “I know I have good speed in super-G, but I made too much mistakes in the last races, so it was in my mind that I know I’m fast. I had to be fast from the start to the finish and that was not easy.”

Image Credit: GEPA / Christian Walgram

American Lindsey Vonn, who finished the day in ninth place and led the U.S. squad, complimented Gut’s skiing.

“This course, you have to really be pushing the line and I think ski more like Lara Gut skied,” Vonn explained. “Going straighter, maybe feathering a little bit more.”

Vonn has been very vocal this week about the fact that she would decide not to race if she felt the course was unsafe, maintaining her focus on the Games for this season and not on the all-time wins record.

“As soon as I saw the course this morning in inspection, I knew I was going to run,” Vonn explained. “For me, it was just, in the downhill training runs, the snow was sugar. There was no surface and for me, that’s a dangerous situation because I don’t have any stability then on my knee. If it’s bumpy it’s not a problem, so long as the surface is holding and solid, it’s fine.”

While the conditions may have been okay by her standards, she admitted to holding back a bit.

“I wasn’t aggressive as I should have been,” Vonn said. “I was a little bit too conservative. It’s kind of funny because I skied the harder sections better and then the easier sections worse. In general, that’s the hard part about super-G is that you only have one inspection and it’s hard to really know what the course is going to be like. Also, running number 2 is always a difficult position because…I don’t have very much feedback from the forerunners and from the coaches.”

It was a tough day all around for the Americans. Breezy Johnson and Laurenne Ross skied to World Cup points in 26th and 29th, respectively. Alice McKennis, Jacqueline Wiles and Stacey Cook finished outside the top 30. Patricia Mangan did not finish, and Julia Mancuso chose not to start.

Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather, who was seventh on the day, continues to lead the super-G standings with 276 points. Meanwhile, American Mikaela Shiffrin sits comfortably in the overall standings lead with 1381 total points, more than 800 points ahead of the next best athlete, Wendy Holdener of Switzerland.

The ladies will have a second crack at the Franz Klammer track in a downhill race on Sunday.

Top 10

1. Federica Brignone (ITA) – Rossignol/Rossignol/Look
2. Lara Gut (SUI) – Head/Head/Head
3. Cornelia Huetter (AUT) – Head/Head/Head
4. Tiffany Gauthier (FRA) – Rossignol/Rossignol/Look
5. Nadia Fanchini (ITA) – Dynastar / Look / Lange
6. Tamara Tippler (AUT) –  Voelkl / Marker / Dalbello
7. Tina Weirather (LIE) – Head/Head/Head
8. Ricarda Haasar (AUT) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
9. Lindsey Vonn (USA) – Head/Head/Head
10. Christine Scheyer (AUT) – Head/Head/Head
10. Sofia Goggia (ITA) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Official Results