ALPINE SKI. The 2011/12 season`s focus for 20-year old Rolex Testimonee Lara Gut is to move one step closer to her goal of winning the overall Alpine Ski World Cup. There is a tacit belief in her camp that winning the grand crystal globe may be achieved by the Swiss sensation, if not this season then certainly next winter.

Photo by Rolex /@Lara Gut

Lara's competition programme has been designed with the lofty ambition in mind: "I'll do as many races as possible this winter," said the fastest woman wearing Swiss colours. It is acknowledged that even if such a heavy load comes at a price on the leaderboard this season, the programme will nevertheless accomplish an important purpose. Lara and her team will know how and where to launch attacks on the overall World Cup title in 2013. They will understand better the tactics required to succeed in that quest.

Lara Gut, summer training in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Photo by Rolex /@Lara Gut

With such a bold plan, it could be said that the opening event in Sölden at the end of October did not go as well as hoped. Based on Lara's off-season training results she had been expecting to do better than the 15th place that she had to settle for. "Those were my two worst runs over the whole summer and autumn," she said self-critically. Yet she and her team are not going to be unnerved and the confidence level remains high. Lara had an excellent summer of training with her private team in Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. She is fit, healthy and brimming with self-belief that this will be a magnificent season.

The next races will take place in the American ski resort of Aspen on 26 and 27 November. Lara has flown already to the United States to take advantage of the snow conditions and to ensure the best-possible preparation for the scheduled giant slalom and slalom races.

Away from skiing, Lara Gut has already scored a major victory this year. She successfully concluded the first part of her final school exams. "I've completed chemistry, physics and biology. It went very well, better than I had expected. I'm glad that I decided to stick with school. I don't want to look back when I'm 30 years old and blame myself for not getting as much education as possible beyond the world of competitive sport."

For the moment those who try to draw a definitive answer from Lara about her ambitions for this year's overall World Cup will find themselves quickly rebuffed. She is clear what she needs to do first and foremost. "I don't have any concrete goals in that regard," says Lara Gut. "I simply want to ski as fast as possible in every race."

Rolex and skiing  - a story of passion dating back to 1968, when French skier Jean-Claude Killy became a Rolex Testimonee after his triple medal win at the Olympic Games. The association that developed between the brand and this exceptional athlete has gone from strength to strength.

For a long time, the Olympic medallist was the only - but so emblematic - link between the brand and skiing, embodying, through his enthusiastic hard work and ceaseless quest for perfection, cardinal values that are also those of Rolex. Now, another legend in alpine skiing, Austrian Hermann Maier, has taken up the torch. A Testimonee since 2007 with an impressive number of victories to his name, he is also a champion who perfectly exemplifies the spirit of Rolex.

Determination, precision and perseverance - qualities that, for Rolex, constitute fundamental principles and which are essential for a top skier. The links between the brand and skiing are not due to chance. By its association with this elite sport, whose ideals it shares, Rolex asserts its attachment to a philosophy in which performance means excellence. It is not surprising, therefore, that the brand supports the most widely known leg of the Alpine Skiing World Cup: the Hahnenkamm Races in Kitzbühel, Austria. Captivated by this event marking the high point of the ski season, Rolex became its Official Timekeeper in 2007. More than a sponsor, Rolex is a true partner, contributing year after year to the prestige of the competition.

Photo by Rolex /Kurt Arrigo

Since 2010, three new rising stars in alpine skiing - Switzerland's Lara Gut and Carlo Janka together with American Lindsey Vonn - perpetuate in turn the relationship that began in 1968 between Rolex and skiing. The brand, which has chosen them as Testimonees, is with them at every turn as they collect honours in races around the world. More than ever, Rolex celebrates skiing and the sport's greatest talents.

KPMS
November 14, 2011