Vonn in 20th place

Women’s downhill in Cortina – LIVE from 11am

Sofia Goggia celebrates "at home".

(Bild: APA/AFP/Tiziana FABI)

The Italian Sofia Goggia celebrated her 26th victory in the Alpine Ski World Cup on Saturday in Cortina d'Ampezzo, her 19th in a downhill. The 32-year-old favorite won by 0.42 seconds ahead of the Norwegian Kajsa Vickhoff Lie and 0.55 seconds ahead of her compatriot Federica Brignone. Cornelia Hütter, weakened by a recent illness, finished sixth, 0.79 seconds behind the best Austrian. US star Lindsey Vonn (+1.68) only managed 20th place.

"I'm proud of myself that I managed to improve so much. In principle, it was a very good improvement from the training sessions," said Hütter on ORF about her less than optimal physical condition. "The training sessions caused me to stumble mentally because I didn't feel how I wanted to feel at all. That's why I wasn't sure at the start how I should approach it." Hütter had to relinquish her position as leader in the Downhill World Cup to Brignone, and after three races so far Goggia has also passed her.

Cornelia Hütter

(Bild: APA/AFP/Tiziana FABI)

Puchner "brutally far"
The second best ÖSV skier was Mirjam Puchner, 1.15 seconds back in tenth place. The skier from Salzburg has thus at least drawn some attention to herself in terms of her World Championship nomination. "I went brutally wide off the line in the middle section. Otherwise it seemed to me that I was doing quite well. But maybe it didn't give me that boost," says the 32-year-old. Maybe I'm missing a bit of looseness." She is not thinking about the World Championships. "It doesn't matter to me what happens in three weeks' time. The important thing is to make the most of every race and find confidence."

Vonn left behind after a suboptimal run
Her compatriots Stephanie Venier (+1.24), Ariane Rädler (+1.25) and Christina Ager (+1.31) followed one after the other in 12th, 14th and 15th place. Magdalena Egger was 25th (+1.92), Nina Ortlieb 27th (+2.00) and Ricarda Haaser 29th (+2.02) after faulty runs. So at least all the Austrians finished in the points, like Vonn. However, 20th place was not what the 40-year-old had expected. The fact that the twelve-time Cortina winner didn't finish higher up may have been due to her number 31, but also to the run. She stumbled at the point of her training crash.

Lindsey Vonn

(Bild: AP)

The result:

Goggia had come back from injury this season and had already won the super-G in Beaver Creek. "It was a good run, I built it up well in training and made few mistakes." However, she could have skied cleaner in some passages, but her strategy regarding the line, among other things, was good. She saved her first downhill victory in a year and five days (Zauchensee 2024) for the place near her home. "That's perfect, but I won't be celebrating much, I'll be preparing for the super-G."