Altenmarkt (Austria) (AFP) – Sofia Goggia hailed the Italian’s first downhill victory of the season as “inspiring” as she exorcised her demons at the Austrian resort of Altenmarkt Sauchensee, where the former Olympic champion had struggled in the past.
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The 31-year-old beat Austrian Stéphanie Benier by 0.10 seconds after making up for an early mistake on the flat part of the hill. Austria’s Mirjam Puchner shared third place with Italy’s Nicole Delago with a time of 0.34 seconds.
Goggia admitted his run had “some flaws at the top” but came down the hill strong to compensate for his fall in Friday’s super-G.
“I knew I could make the difference in the last part,” said the woman, who scored her 18th World Cup success in this event and her second win of the season after the super-G in St. Moritz.
“After yesterday’s race, it was really emotional for me for a lot of reasons, not just because it was a bad race,” Goggia explained.
“And I just wanted to do a nice downhill, and I didn’t have to push 100 percent, but I just wanted to be solid and do what I had to do.”
The 31-year-old has never finished on the podium before at the Austrian resort, her best result being fourth in the downhill four years ago, and she has fallen twice since then.
“I think I had a solid race, skating the course pretty much cleanly,” Goggia said.
Goggia, a four-time world downhill holder, has finished on the podium in 10 of the last 12 World Cup downhill races, but hasn’t won in his favorite event since February 2023.
At the finish line on Saturday, she exclaimed with relief when she saw herself in the lead.
“I never got on the podium at Altenmarkt,” she said. “My first podium, my first win, I’ll take it,” she said.
The Bergamo-born skier is now tied with teammate Federica Brignone for the most World Cup wins by an Italian woman with 24.
Brignone dropped to 14th on the day, with Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami in 6th and Friday’s super-G winner Cornelia Hütter of Austria in 16th.
American star Mikaela Shiffrin, who was absent due to illness, took first place in the overall World Cup standings with 929 points, ahead of Brignone (765 points).
The second super-G will be held on Sunday.
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