Gut-Behrami beats Mikaela Shiffrin to world giant slalom gold by 0.02 seconds
Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami won the women’s giant slalom at the skiing world championships while the firstrun leader Mikaela Shiffrin finished second.
Gut-Behrami beat the American by 0.02sec, the smallest margin of victory in a giant slalom in world championship history. Katharina Liensberger of Austria was 0.09sec behind for bronze. Nina O’Brien of the United States was second after the opening run but dropped to 10th.
“GS has always been so important for me in my entire career,” said Gut-Behrami. “I always knew that if I’m skiing well in GS then it’s easy to be fast even in the other disciplines.”
Gut-Behrami has won three medals and two golds at this year’s worlds. “I’ve been struggling a lot in the last years, but this year I was coming back step by step,” said Gut-Behrami. “I was tired, but I just tried to enjoy.”
Shiffrin looked at the positives, despite losing out on gold by such a small margin. “I’m actually pretty excited, because the last three [World Cup] GS races, I was losing a lot more time in the second run,” said Shiffrin. “Getting even a silver and being so close and hanging on to a medal … it was really not guaranteed, so that’s pretty cool.”
Neither Arsenal nor Benfica felt quite at home in Rome, but at least Mikel Arteta saw his side’s output count double. They deserved to leave with some kind of advantage and it was secured by a close-range away goal from Bukayo Saka, who quickly equalised after Pizzi had scored a penalty for Benfica early in the second half. There will be the nagging concern it should have been greater, though, and would have been if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had not endured an unusually wasteful night.
The captain had ignited his season with a hat-trick against Leeds at the weekend and, while that kind of contribution was long overdue, his travails have centred on a lack of chances rather than his ability to convert them.
Here, though, he had three and they included a first-half sitter that should have offered a platform to put functional opponents to bed. Instead the tie remains finely balanced before the rematch next week in Athens, which will determine whether Arsenal are tormented by Greek ghosts once again.
It was in the home game last year against Olympiakos, whose stadium will host the second leg, that Aubameyang’s late miss condemned Arsenal to a devastating exit at this stage of the Europa League. A repeat outcome would threaten to strip their current campaign of any real meaning but that would have looked distinctly unlikely had he converted Héctor Bellerín’s 19th-minute cross. The rightback had sprinted beyond Benfica’s defence and laid the ball on a plate seven yards out; the only explanation can be that Aubameyang took his eye off it, his sidefooted shot running well wide when anyone would have expected the net to bulge.
“These things happen,” Arteta said. “He was on the end of the biggest chances we had tonight. He was a real threat and he was unlucky not to score two or three, because in normal circumstances that would have been the case.”
Aubameyang’s other two sights came after Saka had scored the leveller, which briefly opened up a largely dull game. The more difficult chance brought an effort drilled narrowly wide from 18 yards after Martin Ødegaard, whose delicately weighted passes were the night’s most agreeable feature, had played him in but he should certainly have done better when a marvellous Gabriel ball sent him through 15 minutes from time. Rather than take a clear shot on his left foot he attempted to check on to his right and was thwarted by the debutant defender Verissimo. Moments later he was replaced by Nicolas Pépé; he was clearly out of sorts and, given he is still working his way back into rhythm after an absence enforced by illness to his mother, it is fair to cut him some slack.
“It’s all to play for and I think we should be in a much better position,” Arteta said. “We weren’t ruthless enough in the opponents’ box and the disappointing thing as well was the way we conceded.”
Benfica’s lead had hardly been signposted in a first half that, beyond its headline aberration, was turgid. Arsenal had controlled possession but rarely moved the ball quickly enough; a stodgy Benfica, their defenders including Nicolás Otamendi and Jan Vertonghen, were happy to play roulette with a high line and caught their nominal visitors offside seven times before the interval.
The pace quickened after they re-emerged, however, and when Diogo Goncalves crossed following a shot corner routine Emile Smith Rowe leapt with outstretched arms at close quarters in a way that spelt trouble. The ball may have struck torso before limb, but that was inconclusive: in today’s unsparingly pernickety climate it was a nailed-on spot kick, as VAR confirmed, and Pizzi dispatched confidently.
Arteta was outwardly more concerned with the sloppy concession of the corner than the whys and wherefores of the penalty. His players did, at least, dust themselves down in a manner that pleased him. “It was a great reaction, a great goal,” he said.
Saka had dragged a decent opening wide before Smith Rowe’s misdemeanour but made amends straightaway by jabbing in a perfect left-sided cross from Cédric Soares, who had been put in position by a needle-threading pass from Ødegaard.
“He’s in a great moment, he’s full of confidence,” said Arteta of Saka, who has scored five times in his past 12 appearances. “His form is probably the highest it’s been since I’ve been here.”
Rafa Silva demanded a flying save of Bernd Leno after that but a full-strength Arsenal, unchanged from their domestic lineup in an unprecedented decision from Arteta, were otherwise untroubled. They must now hope the same is true on Thursday.
Even after a dramatic week like the last, filled to the brim with injury, frustration and doubt, the outcome for Novak Djokovic so rarely ever changes. With a wonderful performance, Djokovic ended the surprise run of qualifier Aslan Karatsev with a brisk 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win to reach the Australian Open final once more.
Djokovic has now reached nine finals at the slam he has dominated for more than a decade. It is ominous enough that he has a perfect 8-0 record in those championship matches, but even more notably, he ended his time on Rod Laver Arena with a statement to be heeded. “This is [the] best I felt in the entire tournament,” he said. “Felt great, I can swing through the ball. No pain. Just the best match so far. It came at the right time and I’m thrilled to feel this way, for sure.”
After a win over Alexander Zverev that was more impressive for his clutch play than his consistency, Djokovic finally played with a level of physical comfort, following the abdominal injury he sustained in the third round against Taylor Fritz. For the first time since the first week, he did not clutch his stomach or grimace between points, and the bilingual monologues to his camp were replaced by a searing focus.
On the other side of the court,
Karatsev stood as one of the most fascinating stories of the past year. Before the tour hiatus last March due to the coronavirus outbreak, he was the definition of a journeyman. Ranked 263rd then, he had spent just one year of his nomadic life in the top 200. His pursuit of a meaningful career has taken him to different training bases, from his Russian hometown of Vladikavkaz to Israel, back to various parts of Russia, Germany, Spain, and now Belarus.
When he returned after the break last year, he immediately began a startling run across the European clay court challenger events, winning 20 of 21 matches and rising to his current ranking of 114. A modest grand slam run, particularly on the clay courts of
Roland Garros, looked a possibility but his presence in the final four here is unprecedented. No male player in the open era had ever reached a slam semifinal on his debut; he has done so at the age of 27, after already spending so much of his life elsewhere.
As Karatsev stood before one of the all-time greats in his second home, he immediately looked like he was exactly at the level he should be. His vicious ball striking from both wings, driven by the force of his enormous calves, immediately penetrated Djokovic’s defence not only because of his sheer power but his rare ability to drag opponents off the court with his wicked angles. And yet Djokovic still roared to a 6-3, 5-1 lead, the type of outlandish feat that only he can achieve.
The world No 1 landed his returns at Karatsev’s feet, redirected so many of the Russian’s strongest blows and unflinchingly stepped into the court whenever the opportunity arose, hitting just one unforced error in the first 77 points of the match. He offered his opponent absolutely nothing. Karatsev tried his hardest to fight back, and he did better than most.
When Djokovic’s level finally dropped for a beat, Karatsev snatched a break back and pushed him all the way to two break points as he served for the set at 5-4, smiting a Djokovic set point by ending a 53-stroke rally with a winning drop shot. But even through his physical issues, the Djokovic serve has been superb on these lightningfast courts. He saved both break points with enormous serves and punctuated his victorious set with a roar. He never looked back.
The past month in Australia is one that Djokovic will not soon forget. His early days in Adelaide were laced with controversy after his genuine but tactless attempts to help other players ended in another round of widespread criticism. Once the tournament started and there was the hope that his tennis would speak for itself, he has had to deal with the scourge of injury. Now his hopes have risen at the perfect moment as he prepares to face either Daniil Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday’s final. “I’m just very pleased with the performance,” he said. “It came at the right time. Before the last match in a grand slam, couldn’t be a better timing for me to play my best tennis.”Djokovic and Karatsev departed the court satisfied for contrasting reasons. Karatsev’s life will never be the same; his new world ranking of No 42 will allow him entry into all of the ATP tournaments he pleases. The $660,000 (£470,000) prize money this week is more than he had scraped together in the past decade of competition, and he will probably have more shots at Djokovic and his rivals in the near future.
Djokovic, meanwhile, is inching back to normal and will have an extra day of rest to consolidate his gains before the final. He may even train between matches for the first time since last Thursday. After a week of doubts, at least one thing is certain: usurping Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final remains one of the most difficult feats in sport.