With this run, the Swiss triumphed in the second home downhill from Crans-Montana.
(Video: SRF)
What a nice surprise in Crans-Montana! The Swiss Priska Nufer won the second Valais downhill of the weekend in front of Ester Ledecka and Sofia Goggia and celebrated the first World Cup victory of her career.
Already on Saturday, Priska Nufer, as the 30th driver, had moved up to fourth place – even though Crans Montana is known to be anything but suitable for the high starting numbers.
On Sunday, Nufer threw another one out – and how! The 30-year-old finished second with a time of 1:29.39, a time that made all the drivers after her hard to crack their teeth. So did Corinne Suter, who with start number 5 lost almost three tenths of a second to Nufer (+0.27 seconds) and finished fourth despite a strong race to catch up.
Tears of joy near Nufer
“It’s incredible to cry with joy and not have tears of disappointment in my eyes. I don’t even realize what’s going on, it’s incredibly beautiful right now, »said Nufer to SRF after her first World Cup victory at the age of 30. It is difficult to say what was decisive for the fast journey.
Obwalderin enthused: “You always have the way in mind, but life is often different. Standing here now after struggling with the energy after Corona. » She is grateful that everything has now worked out. Nufer had already noticed in Beijing that she was in good shape. Going empty-handed there was a dampener: “I would like to thank my family and those around me for giving me the strength to continue and to keep going. I’m proud that I’ve always stuck with it and kept fighting, even in bad times.” Then she bursts into tears.
Gisin is happy for “Prisi”
Michelle Gisin had nothing to do with victory in Crans-Montana when she was eighth. Nevertheless, she beams after the race: “I mainly chose Prisi [Priska Nufer] happy, but I’m very happy with my ride.” There are small mistakes that would creep in in their otherwise extremely constant downhill season. Gisin thinks that there could be more to it than that. “But today it doesn’t matter what we do. Prisi outshines everything, it’s so deserved and really, really cool!”
Corinne Suter missed the podium
On Saturday, she was still tenth, which was enough for the downhill Olympic champion to take second place. However, she was ousted shortly afterwards by the Italian Sofia Goggia, who was four hundredths faster and thus took a big step towards winning the downhill World Cup.
For Lara Gut-Behrami, it was a used weekend in Crans-Montana. She was only 19 on Sunday. “I was always a bit too hard on my skis and didn’t ski very cleanly. My voice isn’t quite back yet and I’m still tired. Technically it’s fine, but I can’t show 100% what I would like to do.” She is now trying to recover as much as possible. “There are still a few races and I would like to drive well,” said a visibly exhausted Olympic champion.