Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami confirmed her status as this season's speed queen over the weekend, winning two downhill races and nabbing the World Cup crystal globe in the super-G, as France's Mathieu Faivre proved his two world championship gold medals were no fluke.

The weekend's races marked the return to the World Cup circuit, after a two-week break for action-packed world championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

The women competed in two downhill races and a super-G in Val di Fassa, Italy, while the men traveled to Bansko, Bulgaria, for two giant slaloms.

Gut-Behrami, who has been in superb form in recent weeks, showed no sign of slowing down, winning Friday's downhill, 0.02 seconds ahead of Austria's Ramona Siebenhofer and 0.26 seconds ahead of fellow Swiss Corinne Suter.

She returned the next day to score the downhill double, this time besting Suter and Germany's Kira Weidle with a signature smooth run.

These were Gut-Behrami's first downhill wins since February 2020 when she also did the double in Crans-Montana. And they cemented her position as one of the season's absolute top performers, after she won long-sought-after gold – twice – in Cortina, alongside one bronze medal.

The 29-year-old had to settle for second place in Sunday's super-G, behind Italy's Federica Brignone and again ahead of Suter. But this was enough for the Swiss veteran – who won four out of six races this season – to claim her third super-G crystal globe, three weeks before season's end.

For Brignone, last season's overall World Cup winner, this was also a welcome win after an unimpressive season and a catastrophic world championship.

Faivre, Zubcic top podium

On the men's side, Faivre, fresh from his two gold medals in Cortina, put in solid performances again over the weekend to take a second and a first place in the giant slalom.

Leading after the first run on Saturday, he was bested by Croatia's Filip Zubcic – who nabbed just his third World Cup win – while Stefan Brennsteiner of Austria, in third, scored a sensational first World Cup podium ahead of other favorites.

The 29-year-old Faivre however came back strong and dominated both runs on Sunday to finish ahead of Marco Odermatt of Switzerland and French teammate Alexis Pinturault.

Long in Pinturault's shadow, Faivre only had seven World Cup podiums before heading to Cortina but came away as one of its biggest stars with two world championship titles, including in the giant slalom.

Pinturault, a three-time Olympic medallist and five-time world medallist, still leads in the overall World Cup rankings and in the giant slalom standings, but with Odermatt closing in as the race for crystal globes heats up.

Gut-Behrami's weekend results meanwhile put her 187 points clear of Slovakia's Petra Vlhova for the overall title and within reach of a downhill globe to add to her super-G one.

Italy's Sofia Goggia is still ahead in the downhill standings but a knee injury in January ended her season, and a win by either Gut-Behrami or Suter in the last race could rob the Italian of her trophy.

The World Cup finals will be held in the Swiss resort of Lenzerheide on March 15-21 and many crystal globes are likely to be decided there.

This weekend's races in Val di Fassa replaced events initially meant to be held in Yanqing, China and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.