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GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN: (L-R) Second placed Italy’s Sofia Goggia, winner Italy’s Federica Brignone and third placed Switzerland’s Corinne Suter celebrates on the podium after the women’s Downhill event of the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany on January 25, 2025. – AFP
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN: (L-R) Second placed Italy’s Sofia Goggia, winner Italy’s Federica Brignone and third placed Switzerland’s Corinne Suter celebrates on the podium after the women’s Downhill event of the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany on January 25, 2025. – AFP

Italy’s Brignone wins Garmisch downhill, Vonn out of luck

Crawford wins Kitzbuehel downhill for maiden World Cup victory

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN: Italian Federica Brignone won the women’s World Cup downhill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Saturday with comeback queen Lindsey Vonn failing to finish. Brignone defeated her fellow Italian Sofia Goggia, who suffered a dislocated shoulder during her run, by just one hundredths of a second.

The veteran Brignone, who celebrated the first downhill victory of her career last week, finished in one minute and 35.83 seconds to narrowly deny Goggia. Switzerland’s Corinne Suter finished 0.19 seconds back in third. The race was overshadowed by a serious injury to Austrian Nina Ortlieb, who was helicoptered off the course after crashing out and screaming in pain.

Brignone, who finished third behind Goggia in the downhill at Cortina d’Ampezzo last Saturday, overcame slow times in training this week to triumph in Germany. “I tried everything and did well today. In training I didn’t do each split well, but today I put the pieces of the puzzle together,” she told Germany’s ZDF network.

“I didn’t think I’d be in first today. There’s no secret recipe. I’ve trained a lot with my brother in these conditions, on the long curves. It’s five years of training and I’m very happy.” The 34-year-old credited her “mental strength” for the victory and said she was “ready” for the upcoming World Championships, but was first focused on Sunday’s Super-G.

The 32-year-old Goggia revealed after the race she dislocated her shoulder. “I wasn’t in the position to push for more speed because of my right shoulder” the 2018 Olympic downhill champion said. Goggia is returning from injuries sustained from a crash in training in 2024 and said she was not yet back at 100 percent. “(The shoulder) isn’t very stable. It happens to me all the time when I lose muscle mass.”

Vonn eyes next season

Vonn, returning to one of her favorite pistes where she has celebrated nine of her 82 World Cup victories, lost her footing midway through the race while taking a turn and skied out with seven gates remaining. She did not finish for the second race in a row after her crash in last Sunday’s super-G at Cortina d’Ampezzo. The 40-year-old retired in 2019 but announced a surprise comeback this year and is racing with a titanium knee.

After initially impressing on her comeback with fourth and sixth placings in St Anton, Vonn finished 20th in the downhill at Cortina—the site of next year’s Winter Olympics—and was unable to add to her tally of five downhill victories in Garmisch.

“I got hit at the wrong moment but that’s how it is. Maybe I would have had a chance to fight, but for me it was too much of a risk,” Vonn told reporters. “I made a mistake. It can happen. I wasn’t as fast as I wanted, but I have to stay patient.”

Vonn was upbeat, saying she was ahead of schedule and had her sights set on next year and the 2026 Winter Olympics. “I’m having fun and enjoying my time. My goal is really next season. “This season is much more than I thought. My first downhill in St Anton was certainly much faster than I thought.”

In Kitzbühel, AustriaCanada’s James Crawford scorched to a maiden World Cup victory in the prestigious Kitzbuehel downhill on Saturday in a race thankfully spared the spate of serious crashes that marred the super-G.

Crawford, with just four podium places to his name in seven seasons on the circuit, laid down a near-perfect run to clock 1min 53.64sec on the challenging 3.3km-long Streif course on the Hahnenkamm mountain overlooking the upmarket Austrian resort. Switzerland’s Alexis Monney took second, at 0.08sec, with another Canadian, Cameron Alexander, rounding out the podium a further 0.14sec adrift.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Amazing stuff, supreme excellence!” boomed the slopeside commentator of Crawford’s run in front of tens of thousands of baying ski fans in warm, sunny conditions. “Canadian cowboys! Oh my word, incredible run by Crawford, he’s the man to beat!”

Crawford, a surprise winner of world super-G gold in Courchevel in 2023 and Olympic combined bronze medalist in Beijing the year previously, held on to bag 100,000 euros ($104,800) for his victory and set himself up nicely ahead of the February 4-16 world championships in Saalbach. In-form Swiss racer Marco Odermatt, who tops the overall and downhill standings, won Friday’s super-G, but could only finish sixth in the blue riband event, at 0.55sec, as just eight-tenths of a second separated the top 13 racers. — AFP

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