Bassino won the downhill race in Crans-Montana – Rädler sixth

The Italian won on Saturday with a lead of 0.54 seconds over compatriot Federica Brignone and 1.11 over Friday winner Lara Gut-Behrami from Switzerland. The best Austrian was 29-year-old Ariane Rädler in sixth place (+1.25); she had never ranked so well in this discipline. Elvedina Muzaferija from Bosnia-Herzegovina came fourth (+1.22).

Bassino was happy about his first downhill victory. “It was a great run,” she said and mentioned intensive video study of the previous day’s race as a big help for the better performance (fifth on Friday). “I really like the fact that the descent keeps moving forward. I’m super happy,” said Rädler. Due to cold temperatures at night and a slightly harder track, it was possible for the race to be carried out to the finish this time and not to finish a few gates earlier like the day before.

No top places for Austrians

Things didn’t go as planned for the Austrians, who also lost ground in the fight for the small ball to Gut-Behrami, who is now leading in the Downhill World Cup. After 40 runners, Cornelia Hütter was in eleventh place (+1.86) and Stephanie Venier in 17 (+2.12), both of whom are around 70 points behind. Mirjam Puchner ranked 15 (+1.97), Christine Scheyer 20 (+2.41) and Emily Schöpf 21 (+2.47).

Hütter couldn’t find the right position; she “worked up a sweat” while driving over the finish jump, said the Styrian. In 2022 she suffered a traumatic brain injury in a serious fall. On Sunday in the Super-G she wanted to get racing again, said Hütter.