The American, who became the most successful woman skier of all
time last weekend, lost her line at the start of the lower section
and narrowly avoided crashing to finish 2.08 seconds off the pace.
"It’s unusual for me to finish 23rd but things like this happen from
time to time and I knew it would be hard for me to stay in
contention after such a mistake," she said.
Gut continued her love affair with St Moritz by winning her first
downhill of the season on home snow in a time of one minute and
43.82 seconds.
The 23-year-old made her Swiss team debut in a European Cup race in
St Moritz at the age of 15, earned her first World Cup podium in the
smart Swiss resort two years later and clinched her first World Cup
win, a Super-G, on the same course in 2008. "It’s always special in
St Moritz. I came here since I was a kid and it’s always very
emotional to win here," she said. "Everybody was talking about me
but I hadn’t been on the podium here for five years. Now it’s a
great boost to go to the world championships in such shape,” she
said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jan/24/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_062409.png) The world championships start in Beaver Creek, Colorado, next month.
Winner of a Super-G in Lake Louise earlier this season, Gut
collected her 12th World Cup success ahead of overall World Cup
defending champion Anna Fenninger of Austria, who missed her second
victory of the winter by 0.32 seconds. In third place, Edit Miklos
became the first Hungarian skier on a World Cup podium, 0.58 behind
Gut.
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Born in Romania 26 years ago, Miklos already made an impression at
the 2014 Sochi Olympics when she finished seventh in the downhill
ahead of the Austrian skiers with whom she trains.
"It might be a surprise but I’ve been close in the past, finishing
fifth in Crans-Montana and also in Sochi. I skied well and I’m not
sure my bib number made a difference,” said Miklos, who started
early in better wind conditions. Overall World Cup leader Tina Maze
of Slovenia made too many mistakes to be in contention and finished
18th, 1.74 adrift.
(Reporting by Manuele Lang. Writing by Francois Thomazeau, editing
by Alan Baldwin)
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