Super-G champion to miss Winter Olympics

Lara Gut-Behrami won super-G gold and giant slalom bronze at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing

Defending super-G champion Lara Gut-Behrami will miss the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy after suffering a season-ending knee injury.

Swiss Ski said the 34-year-old will have surgery after crashing during training in Copper Mountain in Colorado.

She ruptured a cruciate ligament and tore a medial ligament and a meniscus in her left knee.

Gut-Behrami, who has won 48 World Cup golds across three disciplines, planned to retire after the 2025-26 season.

"My goal is to fully recover from this injury and to reach my full performance again. Only then will I know what the future holds for me," she said.

"We have recently experienced dramatic events in our sport - fatal accidents involving young athletes.

"I believe that a knee injury, as complex as it may be, cannot be considered a tragedy."

The Milano Cortina Games will run from 6-22 February.

Italians Matteo Franzoso, 25, and Matilde Lorenz, 19, have died in the past 18 months from injuries suffered in training crashes.