Sofia Goggia of Italy overcomes windy conditions to earn another downhill victory in Cortina d'Ampezzo

BySportsbeat

Updated 22/01/2022 at 16:51 GMT

"It was so windy, I couldn't see the surface while going down and I had the gates against me," Goggia said after being pushed wide early in her run. "I made really a lot of mistakes but I wanted to cross the finish line and dive into the love of the supporters." The Italian finished two-tenths of a second clear of her nearest challenger, Austria's Ramona Siebenhofer.

‘Remarkable!’ - Goggia takes another downhill victory on home snow

Sofia Goggia survived a scare in tricky conditions to claim her fourth downhill victory in five races this season and cement her status as favourite for Olympic gold.

The Italian, who will be one of her country's flag-bearers in Beijing, was pushed wide by the wind early on in front of her home fans in Cortina d'Ampezzo and almost missed a gate further down the run but recovered on both occasions to cross in 1:06.98s.

That put her two-tenths of a second clear of her nearest challenger, Austria's Ramona Siebenhofer, who climbed above Breezy Johnson into second in the overall World Cup downhill standings following the American's withdrawal due to a crash in training.

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Czech ace Ester Ledecka edged out Corinne Suter to take the final spot on the podium but Goggia remains the woman to beat as she sets her sights on defending her Olympic crown.

"It was really tough, I knew I had to push as hard as I could because the start with the first section is not my best part," said the 29-year-old, who sits third in the overall World Cup standings - 197 points behind leader Mikaela Shiffrin.

"It was so windy, I couldn't see the surface while going down and I had the gates against me.

"I made really a lot of mistakes but I wanted to cross the finish line and dive into the love of the supporters.

"I haven't raced here in Cortina since four years [ago] and it's so good to be back. I did an incredible run, a bit strange lines, but I'm really happy.

"Winning today in these conditions, it fulfils me. But I know I still have to work a lot because I haven't been skiing that good lately and I will use the next downhill to refocus and recuperate myself in order to get to China with a clear mind."

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