Italian skier Sofia Goggia won her second World Cup success of the winter on Saturday by winning the downhill at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee in Austria.
Starting with bib 8, Goggia had a superb run and made the difference on the flat part of the track to win ahead of the Austrian Stephanie Venier (second at 10 hundredths) while the Austrian Mirjam Puchner and the Italian Nicol Delago took third place tied (34 hundredths)
Full of commitment as usual, the Italian crossed the finish line with a bloody nose and let out a cry of relief when she saw that she was in the lead. Moved, we saw her crying a few moments later on the images broadcast by television.
It must be said that the five-time holder of the specialty globe, on the podiums in 10 of the last 12 World Cup descents, had not won in her favorite discipline since February 2023.
And the Bergamo woman was frustrated after her failed super-G the day before, where a minor fall caused her to lose her position as leader of the general classification of the specialty.
At 31, she thus signs her second victory of the winter after the super-G in St-Moritz and her 24th World Cup success and consolidates her place at the top of the specialty rankings.
In the general classification, the queen of skiing Mikaeala Shiffrin remains in the lead with 929 points, ahead of her runner-up Federica Brignone (765 points) who nevertheless had the opportunity to get closer to the American. But the Italian, 4th in the super-G on Friday, missed her descent on Saturday (14th).
Shiffrin, 93 World Cup victories, skipped the Altenmarkt races to recover from a cold. After her failed weekend at Kranjska Gora last week (9th in giant and leaving the track in the first round of the slalom), she should be at the start on Tuesday of the night slalom in Flachau, in Austria.
The Women’s Alpine Skiing World Cup continues on Sunday with a new super-G.
