The Italian Marta Bassino created a surprise on Saturday by achieving the first success of her career in a World Cup downhill, in Crans-Montana (Switzerland), while Lara Gut-Behrami soared a little further in the general classification.
At 27 years old, the best giant of 2021 took advantage of her bib No. 3 to find the ideal trajectory on snow not yet softened by the sun, ahead of her compatriot Federica Brignone by 54/100th and the Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami by 1 sec 11.
The Piedmontese wins a seventh victory on the world circuit, she who had until then only won as a giant, even if her progress in speed had allowed her to win world super-G gold at the start of 2023 in Méribel- Courchevel.
Less precise than the day before in the main technical sector, Lara Gut-Behrami was unable to repeat her feat of 2020, when she won the two descents of Crans-Montana, but is getting a little closer to the big crystal globe .
In the general rankings, the 32-year-old from Ticino is now 165 points ahead of American Mikaela Shiffrin, five-time holder of the supreme trophy, who is nursing a left knee injury and is aiming for a return to competition on March 9-10.
Lara Gut-Behrami, already at the top of the giant and super-G rankings, also takes control of the downhill, a discipline decimated this season by injuries, including that of triple title holder Sofia Goggia. The Crans-Montana stage will end on Sunday with a super-G at 10:30 a.m.