Lara Gut-Behrami defying own 'never in Cortina' doubts as she eyes Winter Olympics Milano Cortina 2026

Following a difficult period after suffering a left knee injury in 2017, Swiss star Lara Gut-Behrami admitted she thought she would “never compete” at next year’s Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina. But following a recent run of strong results, she now has her eyes set on taking another Olympic title, continuing from a golden super-G campaign in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Swiss Alpine skier Lara Gut-Behrami revealed she never thought she would be in the frame for the 2026 Winter Olympics after an injury-laden period.

In the 2017 World Championships in St Moritz, she took bronze in the super-G, but tore her ACL which put a halt to her campaign.

As a result of the injury, and the subsequent battle to return to the top, Gut-Behrami set herself the goal of making it to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, but wrote off making it to Milano Cortina 2026.

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"After the injury, when I started to ski well again, to win, I said to myself if I can make it to Beijing it's a great achievement," Gut-Behrami told Eurosport.

"I had also said 'never in Cortina, I will never compete, I will have better things to do.

"But instead I guess I'm doing Cortina as well."

Despite some challenging seasons after the ACL setback, a first major title arrived in 2021. Gut-Behrami won double gold in super-G and giant slalom, which made her the only other Swiss woman since Erika Hess in 1987 to win two golds in a single World Championship.

Gut-Behrami, typically a speed specialist in downhill and super-G, said winning the giant slalom in Cortina d'Ampezzo was a particular career highlight.

"One of the races I am most proud of is the world giant here in Cortina," she said.

"That day, even knowing that then the World Cup was over, it was one of the only times when really at the finish line I felt only happiness, I was happy with me as a child.

"That is a thrill, because I was lucky enough to win several races, but to feel like that in the giant, I didn't feel that often."

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Beijing 2022 marked Gut-Behrami’s third Olympic appearance, her debut coming in 2014 after missing out on the 2010 Canadian edition due to injury.

An undecorated Pyeongchang 2018 campaign was turned on its head in 2022, as she took home her first Olympic gold in super-G and bronze in the giant slalom.

"In the end, the Olympics is something special, in the sense I never really realised it," she said.

"I saw there that being an Olympic champion seems like a magic word."

Now an Olympic champion, this is no doubt something Gut-Behrami will hope to replicate - and even improve upon - at Milano Cortina 2026.

Cortina d'Ampezzo is winning ground for Gut-Behrami, and it remains to be seen whether she can repeat history with only a year to go before the Olympics make their way to the Italian resort.

But if her recent form is anything to go by, she is off to a flying start, having just taken her fifth World Cup super-G victory in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in January.

But for Gut-Behrami, victory does not mean complacency, and the desire for more titles has not been quietened.

"What helps you to keep going is to keep thinking about the things that are missing," she said.

"You never think ‘that's nice, I've already won three,’ but you think ‘I could have won there too’ - that's what makes you hungry."

Fighting talk from the Swiss skier, who will look to continue her winning style in the World Championships, competing in the super-G on February 6 in Saalbach.

By Hannah Newman
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