Lara Gut-Behrami and the serious injury: the Swiss champion crosses her t’s and q’s

The bad fall at Copper Mountain will prevent her from continuing the season and taking part in the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, but Lara Gut-Behrami wanted to make it clear, in the first person, that she does not want to close the competitive discourse. Interviewed by RSI, the Ticino champion, in this sense, wanted to dot her i’s. “Sports is like that, I was happy to return to compete this winter but what happened happened – she said -. If I will retire? I like skiing, I will do it forever: when I can take a turn again and understand if the pain is completely gone, then I will make my decision”. Depending on how the rehabilitation goes I will understand if I will be able to come back, we will talk about it next year’next year”.

Gut-Behrami also spoke about the moments after the injury and the official diagnosis: “I had already been diagnosed with ruptured ligaments in America, but I still preferred to return to Switzerland for further confirmation. Also because what happened last year was that they had told me about cruciate rupture after a fall, when further analysis had said otherwise. I hoped that was the case this time as well but unfortunately it turned out differently”. At Copper Mountain, the Swiss skier suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament, as well as a meniscal injury in her left knee.

Lara Gut-Behrami will therefore have to undergo surgery and, by necessity, will be forced to close her competitive season prematurely: automatic the renunciation even of the Games in Milan-Cortina, an appointment to which she was particularly fond of, to further enrich her Olympic palmarès that includes three medals, one d’gold, in super-giant in Beijing 2022, and two bronze, in downhill in Sochi 2014 and in giant slalom again in Beijing, four years ago. The Ticino native then boasts nine World Championship medals in her career (two gold, four silver and three bronze) as well as two World Cup overall editions, in 2016 and 2024.