Sofia Goggia’s downhill dominance continues with victory at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Mikaela Shiffrin fourth
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Updated 20/01/2023 at 11:44 GMT
Sofia Goggia reinforced her position at the top of the women's downhill with victory at Cortina d'Ampezzo. Corinne Suter had high hopes of eating into Goggia's lead at the top of the women's downhill standings, but she suffered a big crash and did not finish the course. Mikaela Shiffrin showed good pace, but the American was undone by a boot issue as she finished in fourth.
'Risk and reward' - Goggia powers into downhill lead in Cortina d'Ampezzo
Sofia Goggia’s dominance of the women’s downhill continued as she claimed victory at Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The Italian arrived at her home race with a huge lead in the standings, and she extended it with victory from Ilka Stuhec and Kira Weidle.
Goggia now has 480 points, 208 ahead of Stuhec with another downhill to come in Cortina this weekend.
Breezy Johnson was first down the mountain and posted a time of 1:34.25. The American held the lead until Goggia took to the track.
Goggia took some risks, as is her mode of attack, and it helped her stop the clock at 1:33.47. The Italian was a little slow at the top, but found searing pace towards the bottom of the hill.
“I had a solid run but I was aware that I was not that fast and had some imperfections,” Goggia said, as she went on to reference the hand she injured in St Moritz. “In the first part I was too tiny and precise, but I still cannot push with my hand. The acceleration does not come too easily.
"The conditions were not so good for the first racers, the visibility was not so good with a flat light. The sky then opened up and I thought maybe my performance was not enough, but in the end it did and I am happy.”
Corinne Suter arrived in Cortina as the closest rival to Goggia on the downhill standings, but she was unable to add to her 218 points after a big crash.
The Swiss was pushing hard in pursuit of Goggia’s time, but lost control and landed heavily on her left side. She was stricken for a few minutes, but to the relief of the crowd in Italy she got up and skied down the remainder of the course.
Mikaela Shiffrin was chasing an 83rd World Cup win to break out of a tie with Lindsey Vonn. She was quick at the top of the mountain and looked on course for victory, but one of her boot clips came undone following a landing and she lost pace towards the bottom and finished in a time of 1:33.97 which was good enough for fourth.
“It felt so good to ski, so I am really happy,” Shiffrin said. “We have another chance tomorrow. There is not too much I want to fix.
“The course is much faster today, so I am really happy I could take the speed and tomorrow I will look to do the same thing again.”
A couple of the later runners briefly threatened an upset, notably Tamara Tippler, as they posted green lights towards the top of the mountain, but they were unable to match the pace of Goggia towards the bottom.
In the overall standings, Shiffrin extended her huge advantage over Petra Vlhova. The American has 1245 points, with Vlhova on 796.
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