Avon, CO – Swiss ski racer Lara Gut has set the speed pace for the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships with victory in the both the Nature Valley Raptor downhill and super G this weekend at Beaver Creek ski resort in Colorado.

Perfect weather on Saturday blanketed the thousands on hand to witness yet another victory from Gut. She has now won three of the first four Audi FIS Alpine World Cup races for a sensational start to the Olympic season.

Despite making two mistakes in the top section of today’s super G, Gut didn’t give anyone else a chance. With a winning time of 1:18.42, she defeated three Austrians with Elisabeth Goergl in second (+0.90), Anna Fenninger in third (+0.92) and Nicole Hosp in fourth position (+1.11). However, the top three changed at the end the race after Goergl’s disqualification for using skis that were too wide in front of the bindings.

“I wasn’t sure what the right technique was going to be before the start,” said Gut, who celebrated her World Cup career’s third super G victory today. “I was very aggressive in the top section and made two mistakes because of that. I understood then what was the best way to continue and I managed to be very clean on the line to the bottom.”

Leanne Smith, of North Conway, N.H., earned the best result for the U.S. Ski Team with 23^rd during the second straight day of Audi FIS Alpine World Cup racing in Colorado.

“The snow is awesome. It’s really responsive and grippy. It’s a good course; just one that I think I very much over-skied,” admitted Smith. “Super G is all about pinning the line and really pushing yourself to be uncomfortable, to be on the edge. Next time hopefully I can be more aggressive and more athletic with the line. That’s ski racing and that’s life, so I’m just going to move onto the next one and know that I’m making some really good turns. It’s a long season so you can’t get too bent out of shape in the first race series. I’m looking forward to Lake Louise and progressing from there.”

Stacey Cook and Julia Mancuso also earned World Cup points for the U.S. Ski Team with 28^th and 29^th-place finishes, respectively.

“Today I think every meter mattered and to be on line on every gate counted. Unfortunately I didn’t do that,” said Cook, of Mammoth Mountain, Calif. “There’s a lot that we can learn from this weekend and be more prepared for World Champs next year.

“We should have done better here as a group,” Cook acknowledged. “I think we are better than this, and I think when we get back on the courses that we are a little more familiar with and we can get into our normal pattern again, we’ll start bringing the results we brought last year.”

The U.S. Ski Team competed in Beaver Creek without its speed sensation, Lindsey Vonn. Vonn, recovering from surgery to repair her right knee and an accident last week in which she partially re-tore her right ACL, was back on snow training super G at nearby Copper Mountain Resort on Saturday morning.

Giant slalom will close the women’s weekend on Sunday with slalom World Champion Mikaela Shiffrin taking to the Raptor slope, home to the 2015 Alpine World Ski Championships, for the first time since training on the hill last spring.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
Beaver Creek, Colo. – Nov. 30, 2013
Women’s Super G