LA TUILE, Italy — Swiss racer Lara Gut won a downhill by a large margin Friday and reclaimed the overall World Cup lead from Lindsey Vonn, who lost a ski, fell and did not finish.
Vonn was the last of the favorites to start and was ahead of Gut at the first checkpoint, but then her right ski detached on a tricky turn and she slid down the course on her hip.
“I was getting a little bit bounced by the ice there and I was a little bit inside of my body position and my ski just came off,” said Vonn, showing off her bent ski in the finish area. “I’m definitely disappointed. I thought I was skiing pretty well. … That’s pretty much the one thing besides the weather you can’t control. I did my job and hopefully tomorrow my skis will also do their job.”
The American said she didn’t have any serious injuries.
“I’ll probably be pretty bruised,” Vonn said. “I slid on my hip for quite a ways.”
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The Franco Berthod course in the shadows of Mont Blanc made its debut on the circuit. It’s more technical than most women’s downhills.
“It’s a challenge but I prefer a challenge (to) a highway so that’s good,” said Gut, who used a different tactic on the turn where Vonn went out from most other skiers — checking her skis sideways in a move normally reserved for giant slalom.
Gut moved 13 points ahead of Vonn in the overall standings.
“A lot can change in one day,” Gut said. “I’ll try to repeat it tomorrow.”
Vonn still holds a big lead in the downhill discipline standings and can clinch her eighth season-long crystal globe title in another downhill Saturday. Vonn has won five of the seven downhills this season, with Gut taking the other two.
“I’m definitely going to be fired up tomorrow, that’s for sure,” Vonn said. “I know what to do on this course. … Hopefully I’ll execute a little better and hopefully my skis will stay on.”