International sports, World Championship skiing
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (GenevaLunch) - Didier Cuche just failed in his bid to win the FSA World Championship downhill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen when he came in second. The Neuchatel 36-year-old emphasized the positive: that he had won silver rather than losing gold. In fact, the dangerously bumpy course, coupled with warmer than normal weather meant that many racers were not keen to race at all. The gold was won by French-Canadian Erik Guay who became the first Quebecois to win a World Championship downhill.
The women’s downhill saw another gold for Austrian Elisabeth Görgl, who won the Super-G earlier in the week. Second and third places were taken by American Lindsey Vonn and Germany’s Maria Riesch, the two friends who have dominated the season. Switzerland’s young star Lara Gut took fourth place for the second time in a week, the dreaded “chocolate medal.”
Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria (GenevaLunch) – Lara Gut is back in top form, her skiing Sunday 9 January in Austria showed, as she beat American Lindsey Vonn by 0.53 on the tough slopes of Altenmarkt-Zauchensee to take the World Cup super-G final race. She started 24th which, she told reporters after the race, gave her a chance to see where others had made mistakes, so she could adjust her speed, which was almost too fast towards the end. Vonn, who leads
It’s her second World Cup win: the first, in St Moritz in December 2008, pushed the then-17 year old into world sports headlines as a new skiing star. She spent much of last season off the slopes after an injury led to hip surgery and a long recovery.
Vonn is currently ranked first in super-G, Maaria Riesch second and Gut third, but in overall standings Vonn is second, after Maria Riesch, while Gut is 13th, the top-ranked Swiss women’s skier.
Gut told the AP news agency that she’s put her recent arguments with the Swiss Ski Federation behind her. She and the federation last week announced they had reached an agreement on their differences, which included Gut’s objection to following team clothing rules. She was suspended from races the final weekend in December over this and public criticism of a team coach.
Lara Gut will rejoin the Swiss ski team later this year
Muri, Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss athlete Laura Gut, recently suspended from international competition, will return to the women’s Swiss ski team later this season.
Gut, the darling of the Swiss ski scene two years ago, was suspended mid-December 2010 by the Swiss Ski Federation for her repeated public criticism of the women’s team coach and for refusing to follow rules regarding uniforms.
“The meeting [secretly held on 30 December] was very positive for both parties,” says a Swiss-ski statement. “The federation was informed that Lara Gut will follow rules regarding uniforms, therefore there is no need for her to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sports.”
According to the Federation, Gut will continue to train with her own team led by her father Pauli Gut and by Mauro Pini who also heads the Swiss men’s ski team; the skier will rejoin the women’s team later this winter.
Gut who raced into the top three at Val d’Isère, France, in 2008 at age 17, suffered a hip injury which bumped her from the 2008 Olympics. The athlete is coached by a private group, Team Gut, rather than by the Swiss team trainers.
International sports, skiing
Americans Vonn and Ligety put in star performances
Dominique Gisin
Val Gardena, Italy (GenevaLunch) - Silvan Zurbriggen, a cousin of the legendary skier Pirmin Zurbriggen, was the surprise winner of the men’s downhill at the Italian resort of Val Gardena on Saturday. The Valaisan skier is best known for his performances in slalom, and given him a boost in the World Cup standings. Veteran Didier Cuche came in third despite injuring his back the previous week. And the chocolate trophy, as fourth place is popularly called, went to Cuche on Sunday in the giant slalom, the only Swiss to manage the icy conditions where American Ted Ligety was unbeatable.
In the women’s downhill at Val d’Isère in France, American star Lindsey Vonn took first place followed by the Swiss pair Nadja Kamer and Lara Gut, but Swiss women paled Sunday in the super-combined, where their best finish was Dominique Gisin in 11th place. Lindsey Vonn outperformed her friend and rival, German Maria Riesch, in the super-combined, taking first, followed by Austrians Elisabeth Goergl and Nicole Hosp. Vonn now has a three-point lead overall in the World Cup.
There are four Swiss women in the top 25, but none in the top 15. Gut, who is ranked 19 in her comeback year after hip surgery following a 2009 crash, will have to fight to make her way higher in the rankings, as she has been suspended by the Swiss Ski Federation from races in Semmering, Austria the last weekend in December.
Christmas holiday traffic is upon us! Weather forecast, resort updates, traffic planning alerts
Skier Lara Gut signs with new sports agency
Photos by Keepps on flickr, Nyon 17 December 2010 set
Nyon, early Friday morning 17 December (photo, Keepps on flickr)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – School ends for the Christmas break in neighbouring France Friday 17 December and in some German states, while Vaud and Geneva finish at the end of the school day Thursday 23 December (complete list of Swiss school vacation dates) – note corrected dates. The mountains have snow; the snow cover is not deep, but more is promised. Expect traffic on the roads! The women’s World Cup ski season will see some chilly racing this weekend in neighbouring France’s Val d’Isère resort, with temperatures at -10C Friday morning and -14 at nearby Tignes. The snow is in good condition, with 103cm at the top and 40 at 1,850 metres.
Swiss skier Lara Gut announced Friday noon that she has signed a contract with a new Swiss agency, Pool Position, to help develop her reputation nationally and internationally. “This close collaboration, coordinated by my private team, will ensure how my reputation is built, both as an athlete and a private individual.”
Pool Position is a recently developped partnership, based in Zurich, between Ringier, Switzerland’s largest media company, and the German firm Kick-Media AG. The company advises clients in several fields: film, TV, theatre, fashion, music, sports and show business.
Gut was suspended for two races at the end of December for repeatedly ignoring warnings about wearing team clothing and for publicly criticizing the Swiss women’s team coach. She performed well during pre-race runs Thursday, coming in 8th overall and first for the Swiss. She is making her comeback this season after a hip injury followed by surgery last season. Val d’Isère is where Gut charmed the sports world in February, winning two World Cup silver medals at only age 17.
Weather forecast
Snow that began falling 16 December is expected to end by noon Friday in most areas, continuing a bit longer in the Jura and Swiss Alps. Saturday: changeable weather, but cold, ranging from -8C to a high of -1C on the plain and -16C to -7C in mountain resorts. Sunday: warmer, highs around 0C, with snow starting again, but the snowline gradually rising to 500-800 metres. GenevaLunch weather page
Winter resort news
Lara Gut
Didier Cuche
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Lara Gut, the darling of the Swiss ski scene two years ago, has been suspended by the Swiss Ski Federation from two races at the end of December in Semmering, Austria for repeatedly publicly criticizing the women’s team coach, her former trainer. Brighter news on the Swiss ski scene is that Didier Cuche, who left a downhill race Saturday 11 December with a severe case of lumbago in his back, was able to train Wednesday 16 December and finished with the top speed.
Gut was the darling of Swiss skiing when she raced into the top three at Val d’Isère, France, in 2008, at the tender age of 17. She suffered a hip injury, followed by surgery, that bumped her from the 2008 Olympics and she has struggled, since coming back 19 October of this year, to find her form. She is coached by a private group, Team Gut, rather than the Swiss team trainers. Her father is part of Team Gut. The head coach, Mauro Pini, was her trainer when she joined the team, but he left to coach the men’s team, and under his direction Didier Cuche won the 2009 World Cup in downhill and Didier Defago took Olympic gold in downhill in Vancouver.
The Swiss ski teams have not had a smooth start to the season, with several injuries, and trainers for the men’s team injured in a car accident in Sweden two weeks ago.
Lara Gut, skier, out with injuries for much of the 2009-2010 season
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Skier Lara Gut, the new young sensation of the 2008-09 ski season, will not be part of the Swiss team skiing at the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. She has been recuperating from hip surgery following an accident during training in October. Her recovery and intensive “dry” training has gone well, Swiss Ski reports, but she will not be able to start training on skis until the end of January, too late to be in shape for the Games.
Lara Gut, skier, out with injuries for much of the 2009-2010 season
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss skier Lara Gut, age 18 and the surprise hit of the 2008-09 ski season, was successfully operated on at the Ile hospital in Bern, but she will not be able to ski for at least three months, her team manager has announced. Gut suffered injuries in a major crash during training in September. The surgery is designed to provide maximum movement in the hip and she is now starting four weeks of physical therapy.
Lara Gut
Val d’Isères, France (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s new skiing sweetheart, 17-year-old Lara Gut, took a second silver medal in the World Championship races in Val d’Isère in the women’s downhill, behind American Lindsay Vonn who came in .52 seconds ahead.
Lara Gut, Switzerland (photo ©2008 Swissski/Keystone/Alessandro della Valle)
Alta Badia, Italy and Engelberg and St Moritz, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – It was a great weekend for Swiss skiers, in women’s and men’s downhill races and ski jumping.
