Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami retiring after upcoming Olympic season
FILE - Switzerland's Lara Gut Behrami holds the trophy for the alpine ski, women's World Cup super-G discipline, in Saalbach, Austria, March 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati, file)
ZURICH (AP) — Two-time overall World Cup champion Lara Gut-Behrami intends on retiring after the upcoming Olympic season.
The Swiss skier revealed her plans at a sponsor's event in Zurich.
The 34-year-old Gut-Behrami said she wants to move to London next year to join her husband, former Switzerland international Valon Behrami, who she said was taking over as sporting director at English soccer club Watford.
Advertisement
'I certainly won't be a cleaning lady,' Gut-Behrami said this week, while hinting she would like to become a mother.
Gut-Behrami won her overall titles in 2015-16 and 2023-24 and has 48 World Cup victories — good for fifth on the all-time women's list. She also won gold in super-G and bronze in giant slalom at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, plus a bronze in downhill at the 2014 Sochi Games.
One of Gut-Behrami's best performances came at the 2021 world championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, where she swept gold in super-G and giant slalom and took bronze in downhill.
Cortina will host women's skiing in the Winter Games in February, which would be Gut-Behrami's fourth Olympics. She missed the 2010 Vancouver Games due to injury.
Gut-Behrami made her World Cup debut at age 16 in 2007.
___
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Diversity is not what's dragging down U.S. men's national team. Data proves it
Whatever is wrong with the U.S. men's national team, and pull up a chair because there's lots to discuss, diversity isn't it. That's not just an aspirational statement. There are studies to prove it. In fact, researchers who've looked at both club and national teams across the world recently found diversity actually made squads better. "Previous research, they found a negative impact, not because of the diversity itself but how to put the team together. When you merge several players from different countries with different language, you create a barrier that makes it, at some extent, difficult to perform," said Thadeu Gasparetto, author of a paper published earlier this month titled "Multicultural teams: Does national diversity associate with performance in professional soccer?" "More recent research is showing pretty much the opposite, where the diversity provides a set of different skills … different codes that tends to be positive.' With less than a year until the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, which U.S. Soccer officials hope will be as transformative for the game as the 1994 tournament was, the "golden generation' of the U.S. men's national team is struggling. To put it nicely. Most of their top players, led by Christian Pulisic, are playing in Europe. Several on top teams, no less. Their coach is Mauricio Pochettino, who took Tottenham to the Champions League final. Yet the USMNT skidded into the Concacaf Gold Cup on a four-game losing streak, its longest since 2007. Then team reached the quarterfinals of the tournament, but Sunday's game against Costa Rica will be the first real test. As players, fans and pundits look for answers, former USMNT player and pot stirrer extraordinaire Alexi Lalas blamed the team's diversity. In addition to players from across the United States, the USMNT — like many other national teams — has multiple players who were born or raised overseas. "I've argued that the homogeneous nature of some other countries and cultures, just in population in terms of the size, are much more manageable and there's a collective understanding and, more importantly, an agreement in, 'This is how we're going to play,'' said Lalas, who makes no secret of his willingness to be a right-wing media provocateur. 'But getting 11 men to represent this great country of 350 million people and all be on the same page, that is very, very difficult.' Except it's really not. And there is both data, and anecdotal evidence, to prove it. Gasparetto examined six professional leagues in Europe — England, Belgium, Germany, Cyprus, Latvia and the Netherlands — between the 2015-16 and 2020-21 seasons and found that each foreign player on a team correlated with a 0.42% increase in win percentage. 'It's much more about how well or how qualified the players are rather than where he or she's from,' Gasparetto said. His findings are similar to those in a study by Michel Beine, Silvia Peracchi and Skerdilajda Zanaj that looked at ancestral diversity and its impact on a national team's performance. "Ancestral diversity and performance: Evidence from football data," published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization in September 2023, found ethnic diversity can lead to an additional goal scored per game. 'The idea is, basically, that more genetic diversity is going to allow more complementary skills between players,' Beine said. 'Soccer is a game in which complementary skills is very important because you have different positions and these different positions, they require different type of skills. … These complementarities, these different type of skills are going to be beneficial for the team.' Look at France. Les Bleus won the men's World Cup in 2018 and were runners-up in 2022 with a team that was a melting pot. In addition to players whose parents and grandparents and great-grandparents and — you get the idea — were born in France, about half the team was born in Africa or the French Caribbean, or had parents who were. England, much to the country's consternation, endured decades of frustration after winning the World Cup in 1968. But it has reached the final at the last two European Championship and got to the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup with a multiracial team. Belgium had its best finish ever at the World Cup in 2018, third place, with a team that reflected the influence of immigration to that country in the 1950s and 1960s. Conversely, teams that are homogenous — Iceland, for example, or Japan — don't fare as well. 'This mixing, in terms of skills, in terms of genetic endowment, we show in the statistical analysis that, over time, countries benefited from immigration flows and diverse immigration flows. … They improved their soccer performances,' Beine said. 'On the contrary, you have countries who had very little immigration flows and who have kept quite a homogeneous population … maybe they have less benefited from this.' Soccer is a global game — and not only because it's played everywhere in the world. Players routinely move from country to country in their club careers, and that is likely to have far more influence than the country in which they were born or the neighborhood in which they grew up. Lionel Messi was born in Argentina, moved to Spain at 13 and spent two decades at Barcelona before going to France to play for Paris Saint-Germain. Now he's in the United States, playing for Inter Miami. Do you really think him being from Rosario has more of an impact on Argentina's national team than what he learned at Barcelona? "The evidence is very clear that diversity is something that can be beneficial. And it is a little bit overlooked by people,' Beine said. 'I think that sometimes people are not looking at the evidence. Or they are closing their eyes on what is really obvious.' And that is that. The USMNT, much like the country it represents, is better for its diversity. Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
Hamilton Spectator
2 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Spain hopes for Bonmati recovery at Euro 2025 and bids for ‘historic generation' status
MADRID (AP) — Spain's final preparations for the Women's European Championship have been upended. Again. Three years ago, Alexia Putellas tore an ACL days before the competition. This time, a different Ballon d'Or-winning midfielder's tournament is in question after Aitana Bonmatí was hospitalized with viral meningitis . Bonmatí came down with a fever during practice Friday and later checked in to a Madrid hospital. The team planned to travel to Switzerland on Sunday for the tournament, where it is considered one of the favorites after winning the 2023 World Cup, even though it has never reached a Euros final before. Spain coach Montse Tomé revealed after Friday's 3-1 victory in a friendly against Japan that the 27-year-old star tested positive for viral meningitis. 'The word is scary, but the doctor tells me that she is under control. She will remain in the hospital and we don't know for how long,' Tomé said. Spain's first game is against Portugal on Thursday in Bern. It will also face Belgium and Italy in Group B. Stability after Rubiales scandal Bonmatí's setback aside, Spain had been enjoying some peace and stability now that the Luis Rubiales scandal is behind them. Spain is arriving for Euro 2025 just a few months after Rubiales was convicted of sexual assault for an unsolicited kiss on player Jenni Hermoso during the 2023 World Cup awards ceremony. The conviction helped end one of the worst chapters in the history of Spanish soccer. The kiss sparked outrage and marred the nation's celebrations of the team's first major title in women's soccer. It ignited an unprecedented crisis that left the Spanish federation and women's soccer in turmoil. Spanish society called for more support for women, and sports officials ultimately were forced to review outdated protocols and improve the conditions for the women's team that is among the main title favorites at Euro 2025. 'I remember when I used to come to play for the national team and I didn't enjoy it. I just wanted to go home, to be honest,' playmaker Bonmatí, a two-time Ballon d'Or winner , said a few days before falling ill. 'It was tough to play here. The situation wasn't good. But now everything is better, there is more stability for everyone and that benefits the group.' The crisis prompted by the kiss on Hermoso — who was not called up by Tomé for the Euro 2025 squad — helped expedite changes that players had been demanding for a long time, including by some who refused to play for the national team even before the World Cup. 'The conditions have changed a lot,' said Putellas , another two-time world player of the year. 'Especially in terms of travel, nutrition, training. Things have changed radically. Now we are enjoying conditions that are at the top level of the men's team. It's something that has taken a lot of effort and work by many people.' Putellas said it's clear that the structure provided for the women's team is much more professional now, including in areas such as marketing and communication. 'We are finally where we wanted to be for some time,' she said. 'Because we have pushed for it, and also because a lot of people have helped us. Now we are just ready to compete and enjoy it.' Rubiales was convicted in February and ordered to pay more than 10,000 euros ($11,700) in fines. He was prohibited from approaching Hermoso or communicating with her for a year. Prosecutors had asked for a prison sentence. Rubiales was acquitted of a charge of coercion for allegedly trying to make Hermoso downplay the kiss on the lips. Tomé left out Hermoso from the squad saying that 'there's a lot of competition in her position.' Spain established itself as one of the powerhouses in women's soccer by winning the World Cup and following it up by lifting the trophy of the inaugural Women's Nations League in 2024. It then just missed out on a medal by finishing fourth at the Paris Olympics, when it lost to Brazil in the semifinals and to Germany in the bronze-medal match. Spain still a favorite Spain has never reached a final at the European Championship. Its best result was a last-four appearance in 1997. It was eliminated in the quarterfinals at each of the last three Euros. Still, it's a team that includes Barcelona and Real Madrid stars — and they've been playing well. In early June, Cláudia Pina scored twice in Spain's 2-1 victory over defending European champion England in the Nations League. 'We have been carrying the 'favorite' tag for a few years now, since we won the World Cup,' Bonmatí said. 'We are used to it and we take it with responsibility. There are other top teams and we need to respect them.' Even if Bonmatí needs time off, Spain will feel confident in the group stage. Spain had a 4-0 record this year against Portugal and Belgium — all in the group stage of the current Nations League edition. That included a 7-1 home victory over Portugal in April. 'Winning the European title would come as a confirmation that this is a historic generation for Spain's women's soccer,' Bonmatí said. ___ AP soccer:
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Spain hopes for Bonmati recovery at Euro 2025 and bids for 'historic generation' status
MADRID (AP) — Spain's final preparations for the Women's European Championship have been upended. Again. Three years ago, Alexia Putellas tore an ACL days before the competition. This time, a different Ballon d'Or-winning midfielder's tournament is in question after Aitana Bonmatí was hospitalized with viral meningitis. Bonmatí came down with a fever during practice Friday and later checked in to a Madrid hospital. The team planned to travel to Switzerland on Sunday for the tournament, where it is considered one of the favorites after winning the 2023 World Cup, even though it has never reached a Euros final before. Spain coach Montse Tomé revealed after Friday's 3-1 victory in a friendly against Japan that the 27-year-old star tested positive for viral meningitis. 'The word is scary, but the doctor tells me that she is under control. She will remain in the hospital and we don't know for how long," Tomé said. Stability after Rubiales scandal Bonmatí's setback aside, Spain had been enjoying some peace and stability now that the Luis Rubiales scandal is behind them. Spain is arriving for Euro 2025 just a few months after Rubiales was convicted of sexual assault for an unsolicited kiss on player Jenni Hermoso during the 2023 World Cup awards ceremony. The conviction helped end one of the worst chapters in the history of Spanish soccer. The kiss sparked outrage and marred the nation's celebrations of the team's first major title in women's soccer. It ignited an unprecedented crisis that left the Spanish federation and women's soccer in turmoil. Spanish society called for more support for women, and sports officials ultimately were forced to review outdated protocols and improve the conditions for the women's team that is among the main title favorites at Euro 2025. 'I remember when I used to come to play for the national team and I didn't enjoy it. I just wanted to go home, to be honest,' playmaker Bonmatí, a two-time Ballon d'Or winner, said a few days before falling ill. 'It was tough to play here. The situation wasn't good. But now everything is better, there is more stability for everyone and that benefits the group.' The crisis prompted by the kiss on Hermoso — who was not called up by Tomé for the Euro 2025 squad — helped expedite changes that players had been demanding for a long time, including by some who refused to play for the national team even before the World Cup. "The conditions have changed a lot,' said Putellas, another two-time world player of the year. 'Especially in terms of travel, nutrition, training. Things have changed radically. Now we are enjoying conditions that are at the top level of the men's team. It's something that has taken a lot of effort and work by many people.' Putellas said it's clear that the structure provided for the women's team is much more professional now, including in areas such as marketing and communication. 'We are finally where we wanted to be for some time,' she said. 'Because we have pushed for it, and also because a lot of people have helped us. Now we are just ready to compete and enjoy it.' Rubiales was convicted in February and ordered to pay more than 10,000 euros ($11,700) in fines. He was prohibited from approaching Hermoso or communicating with her for a year. Prosecutors had asked for a prison sentence. Rubiales was acquitted of a charge of coercion for allegedly trying to make Hermoso downplay the kiss on the lips. Tomé left out Hermoso from the squad saying that 'there's a lot of competition in her position.' Spain established itself as one of the powerhouses in women's soccer by winning the World Cup and following it up by lifting the trophy of the inaugural Women's Nations League in 2024. It then just missed out on a medal by finishing fourth at the Paris Olympics, when it lost to Brazil in the semifinals and to Germany in the bronze-medal match. Spain still a favorite Spain has never reached a final at the European Championship. Its best result was a last-four appearance in 1997. It was eliminated in the quarterfinals at each of the last three Euros. Still, it's a team that includes Barcelona and Real Madrid stars — and they've been playing well. In early June, Cláudia Pina scored twice in Spain's 2-1 victory over defending European champion England in the Nations League. 'We have been carrying the 'favorite' tag for a few years now, since we won the World Cup," Bonmatí said. 'We are used to it and we take it with responsibility. There are other top teams and we need to respect them.' Even if Bonmatí needs time off, Spain will feel confident in the group stage. Spain had a 4-0 record this year against Portugal and Belgium — all in the group stage of the current Nations League edition. That included a 7-1 home victory over Portugal in April. 'Winning the European title would come as a confirmation that this is a historic generation for Spain's women's soccer,' Bonmatí said.
