Bassino dominates World Cup downhill

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Italian skier Marta Bassino claimed her first ever FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup downhill victory, winning the women’s race in Crans-Montana, Switzerland,

Bassino shared the podium with Federica Brignone for an Italian 1-2 finish. The pace-setting Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland, who won the downhill race the day before, had to settle for third place.

Bassino, who is a giant slalom specialist and won the super-G world title last year, gained time on all her competitors in the opening and final sections of the Mont Lachau course to finish 0.54 seconds ahead of teammate Brignone.

“I’m really, really happy. It’s my first win in downhill, so it’s amazing,” Bassino said according to AP. “I’m really emotional.”

She had already impressed in shortened downhill on the same course, when she started 21st and had a clean run to finish fifth.

“I think I have done a great run,” Bassino said after her victory. “I have done everything that we have seen and analyzed (on) video.”

“I didn’t expect to win a race, but I am really happy. It is really emotional after a season that has not been easy.”

Brignone landed her eighth podium of the season finishing 0.54s behind her compatriot.

Lara Gut-Behrami, who won Friday’s race, finished 1.11 behind in third as the Swiss star extended her lead in the overall standings over the absent Mikaela Shiffrin to 165 points.

Shiffrin is nursing a left knee injury and likely won’t return to the circuit earlier than the second weekend of March for a GS and slalom in Sweden.

“It’s not easy, three races in three days. I am just happy the way I am skiing,” said Gut-Behrami, who is after her second overall title after winning it in 2016. “The energy level is pretty low, so I have to find something for tomorrow, to find new energy.”

Bosnian skier Elvedina Muzaferija, a late starter wearing bib 28, earned her first career top-10 result by finishing fourth, 1.22 seconds behind Bassino.

Bassino had just one podium result from 37 previous World Cup downhill starts, when she finished runner-up at a race in Bulgaria four years ago.

Racing in spring-like temperatures on Saturday, Bassino was the fastest starter and posted the best times at the first two checkpoints.

She didn’t fully match the downhill specialists while gliding in the straighter middle section but had an unmatched pace again in the bottom part of the course.

“I think I managed to do the right turns in the right way and tried to be fast and to be confident with the snow,” Bassino said. “I was trying to be fast, also in the flat part, to feel the speed. I have also done a really good last part.”

The Italian skier added that starting early with bib 3 was an advantage.

“I think that helped a bit because the snow became a bit slow,” she said.

Bassino became the sixth different winner in six downhills this season. Two more races are scheduled, over two weeks in Norway and at the season finals in Austria.

A day after winning Friday’s race, Gut-Behrami added 60 more points to her season tally to overtake Sofia Goggia at the top of the downhill standings by 19 points.

Goggia won the downhill title the past three years but the Italian had to end her season prematurely after breaking two bones in her right leg in a training crash 12 days ago.

Shiffrin is bothered by a left knee injury and everything indicates that she will not return to the circuit until the second weekend of March to take part in a giant slalom in Sweden.