Lara Gut Didn’t Win the Overall by Default, and Here’s Why

Switzerland’s Lara Gut burst onto the World Cup scene during the 2007-08 season after hitting the downhill podium at the World Junior Championships in Austria the previous winter. It took a few starts, but in front of a home crowd in St. Moritz she found her rhythm, earning her first World Cup podium finish in downhill on Feb. 2, 2008.

Gut took the World Cup overall globe eight years later at the very same venue under sunny skies at World Cup Finals. The overall title tops Gut’s list of career accomplishments: although she has won 18 World Cup races, she has yet to take gold in a premiere event like the Olympics or World Championships. The “big globe” is her crowning achievement, accompanying her two super G discipline globes from 2014 and this past season.

“Since I started ski racing, I feel like I’m considered as a prodigy and a potential winner of the overall,” said Gut. “So the pressure has always been there. I guess I was not mature enough so far. Now I found my way, I can work and improve my skiing in harmony with my team, and I learned to handle the pressure. In a crazy season like this one, with the duel with Lindsey Vonn, where the lead changed almost every weekend, this experience helped a lot. I always try to do my best, and maybe it’s enough for the overall, and this year, it was the case. I’m very happy and proud to finally hold it in my hands.”

Gut and the American fought back and forth for months, pushing each other for the lead in the standings. Vonn suffered an injury at the end of February which kept her from taking the overall title, though she was still able to secure the downhill globe prior to being sidelined.

During that time and even after she mathematically secured the overall title, Gut was reluctant to discuss her victory. She hoped, instead, to continue to fight through the end of the season despite the absence of her closest rival.

“For me, it’s important just to ski and do what I can,” she explained in Garmisch, Germany. “It’s a long season and every day is different.”

Taking it day by day worked and launched Gut into the stratosphere with past title winners like Slovenia’s Tina Maze, who won the overall in 2013, and Austria’s Anna Fenninger, who took the big globe over the following two years. The absence of these skiers did not go unnoticed this season. Fenninger suffered a torn ACL in her right knee while training in Soelden, Austria, ahead of the World Cup opener, while Maze was missing for different reasons.

The Slovenian announced in May 2015 that she would take a year off from the circuit in order to rest, finish her degree and dedicate time to some outside projects. Maze currently holds the record of highest number of World Cup points scored in a single season, breaking Hermann Maier’s previous record of 2,000 points by finishing with 2,414 in 2013.

Gut ended the 2015-2016 season with 1,522 points total, nearly 1,000 points less than Maze’s record. Many of Gut’s points were accumulated in her favorite event, super G, in which she won the 2016 discipline title. The Swiss skier had six victories this season and 13 total podiums.

Gut’s season total was actually on par with Fenninger’s winning points total from 2014 and 2015 when she grabbed the title with 1,271 points and then 1,553 points. In 2015, Fenninger took home six wins and 15 podium finishes on her way to the overall, further proving that Gut did not have an unfair advantage when it came to winning the title this year.

Of course, there is the chance that Gut would not have won the overall if injured athletes like Vonn had been racing. But the fact remains that Gut had to have the very same level of success as recent winners in order to secure her title.

Vonn’s injury kept fans from witnessing an intense battle that could have continued to the bitter end of World Cup Finals. The speed queen’s season-end point total was 1,235, roughly three wins shy of the title. After her injury, there were two super G races and a downhill amongst the additional tech events, which could have put her over the top. With margins smaller than 30 points between the two athletes for much of the season, it would have been a dogfight to the end.

But Gut’s season-long victory should not be plagued by her rivals’ injuries. Vonn will be the first to tell you that injury is part of this sport.

“It’s pretty rare to escape the sport without major injury,” Vonn said in Val d’Isere earlier this season. “If you want to have a long career, you have to have a way to overcome it.”

Since injury remains a variable of the sport, wins are awarded 100 points no matter who shows up to the race. Gut won’t get an asterisk next to her name because several top contenders were injured. A globe is a globe.

As glorious as the victory was for Gut, the reigning champ is already looking ahead to next season. She was on a brief Easter vacation in Miami, Florida, according to her Instagram account before getting back on snow on April 1 – and it was not a joke.

Her competitors are embarking on similar training plans that include national championship races and ski testing. Fenninger – who attended World Cup Finals as a spectator and news commentator – continues to work on her rehab in hopes of getting back on snow as soon as possible.

Maze joined the injured Austrian in St. Moritz as a commentator for Eurosport and continues to hold out on fans, not yet announcing whether or not she’ll return to the circuit next season.

“I don’t miss anything,” Maze said in a Facebook live stream from St. Moritz. “Of course, I am thinking about it. I didn’t make a decision yet and I will say it once I know it, but I think I did a lot in alpine skiing and I don’t need any more racing to show anything.”

Americans Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin will also be in the hunt for the big globe next season. Vonn, who continues to rehab and could arguably be crowned the “Comeback Queen,” plans to return with a vengeance. Shiffrin continues to dominate in slalom and if she can carry that speed into other disciplines like GS and super G next season, she’ll become a serious contender for the overall.

Only time will tell what next season’s World Cup races will bring, but if these ladies all show up healthy in October, one thing’s for certain: We’re in for a very entertaining year at the White Circus.