Slovenian surprises by winning first Lake Louise downhill

By Published On: December 2nd, 2016Comments Off on Slovenian surprises by winning first Lake Louise downhill

Overcast skies, dropping temperatures, and flat light were on hand for the opening women’s World Cup downhill in Lake Louise, Alberta, on Friday as fans were treated to a surprise first-time winner. Twenty-six-year-old Slovenian Ilka Stuhec took the victory with a time of 1:45.48 seconds, 0.22 seconds ahead of second place finisher Sofia Goggia of Italy and 0.31 seconds clear of Kajsa Kling of Sweden in third.

Early on in the day’s action, the always threatening Lara Gut of Switzerland looked to be on track for another World Cup win as she comfortably held onto the lead from bib seven until Kling pushed out of the gate with number 17. Kling managed to best Gut at every interval and crossed the line with 0.38 seconds of an advantage and was poised to take her first World Cup win until two dark horses lurking deep in the top-30 starters took to the course.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Goggia, who had just claimed her first World Cup podium last week in Killington, was threatening Kling’s intermediate times out of bib 28 and managed to squeak by with 0.09 seconds to spare as the energetic Italian collapsed in a heap of emotion in the finish.

Stuhec was the very next racer on course, however, and with precision and power showed the world what she was made of, laying down a commanding run and taking her maiden win by 0.22 seconds. The win was made extra sweet for Stuhec as her mother was able to share in the victory as she doubles as her ski technician.

“I expected me to ski good, to show what I can,” an exhilarated Stuhec said. “I started visualizing what happens when I cross the finish line and when I came down and saw the number one I was just like, ‘What?! This is so awesome!’ The trainings, the first and the third one, were pretty good. There were still some little details that we watched on the video that I needed to improve and apparently I did.”

For Goggia, Friday’s performance was redemption for her as it was in Lake Louise three seasons ago where the Italian suffered an ACL tear.

“When I saw the green light, I exploded inside because on this slope three years ago I broke my ACL,” she said. “In these days, I had to face a lot of demons on the Coaches Corner jump. … I made some mistakes during my skiing, but I saw nothing on the ground and when I saw nine hundredths less than Kling I thought, ‘Oh Jesus, I can’t believe I made it here!’ After, Stuhec came and now I’m second, but still a good one!”

Kling’s third-place finish is only the Swede’s second career World Cup podium, with her first coming back in 2013 in the St. Moritz downhill. Although perhaps a little disappointed to not hang on for that elusive win, Kling was more than happy with her performance.

“I think I skied pretty well,” she shared. “I think I need to adjust some things for tomorrow and make a cleaner run, but overall I’m really happy. I had a great run. I felt really good during preseason in training as well, and I feel really good being able to perform at a race too because  I sometimes struggle with the mental part, but I’m really happy to perform like this in a race.”

For the American women, Stacey Cook led the way with a solid sixth-place finish. Laurenne Ross also finished inside of the top 10 in ninth while young Breezy Johnson managed her World Cup best in a very impressive 11th. Mikaela Shiffrin in her downhill debut was 18th. Jacqueline Wiles was 23rd. Leanne Smith was 31st in her return from injury. Anna Marno finished in 48th, and unfortunately, Alice McKennis did not finish her run after getting thrown off-balance and missing a gate.

“I’m really excited, actually,” Cook said. “Podium or not, I think that I skied well today and that was maybe a little bit of a doubt earlier in this week that I could throw in there for a competitive run. I’m happy with my personal performance. Also, it’s fun that our team is super fast right now so it’s a really fun, competitive environment.”

It was a good first outing in downhill for Shiffrin, who still intends slalom and giant slalom to be her main focus this season. The young American was held in the start for several minutes as the racer in front of her, Switzerland’s Joana Haehlen, found herself in the nets.

“It wasn’t bad,” Shiffrin explained. “Not at all. I struggled a little bit with the course hold, … but I’m like, ‘Just clear your head, pretend it’s a training run, no pressure, solid technique in the turns and off the jumps, good tuck, and stick with that.’ I certainly didn’t risk anything crazy and to be fast in speed there certainly needs t0 be a certain level of risk and I know that, but now, if GS and slalom are my main priority this season, I don’t need to be going crazy in a downhill with flat light and after I got iced.”

The second women’s downhill in Lake Louise is scheduled to start at 12:30 MT on Saturday.


Top 10

  1. Ilka Stuhec (SLO) – Stoeckli/Lange/Marker
  2. Sofia Goggia (ITA) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  3. Kajsa Kling (SWE) – Head/Head/Head
  4. Lara Gut (SUI) – Head/Head/Head
  5. Victoria Rebensburg (GER) – Stoeckli/Lange/Marker
  6. Stacey Cook (USA) – Stoeckli/Lange/Marker
  7. Stephanie Venier (AUT) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  8. Johanna Schnarf (ITA) – Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  9. Laurenne Ross (USA) – Voelkl/Lange/Marker
  10. Edit Miklos (HUN) – Head/Head/Head

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points
 1  29  565360 STUHEC Ilka 1990 SLO  1:45.48  0.00
 2  28  298323 GOGGIA Sofia 1992 ITA  1:45.70  +0.22  2.61
 3  17  505886 KLING Kajsa 1988 SWE  1:45.79  +0.31  3.67
 4  7  516138 GUT Lara 1991 SUI  1:46.17  +0.69  8.18
 5  11  205218 REBENSBURG Viktoria 1989 GER  1:46.45  +0.97  11.50
 6  10  537582 COOK Stacey 1984 USA  1:46.54  +1.06  12.56
 7  27  56177 VENIER Stephanie 1993 AUT  1:46.86  +1.38  16.35
 7  20  296427 SCHNARF Johanna 1984 ITA  1:46.86  +1.38  16.35
 9  15  538573 ROSS Laurenne 1988 USA  1:47.02  +1.54  18.25
 10  6  245066 MIKLOS Edit 1988 HUN  1:47.07  +1.59  18.84
 11  33  6535455 JOHNSON Breezy 1996 USA  1:47.08  +1.60  18.96
 12  21  296472 FANCHINI Elena 1985 ITA  1:47.15  +1.67  19.79
 13  42  426043 TVIBERG Maria Therese 1994 NOR  1:47.20  +1.72  20.38
 14  1  355050 WEIRATHER Tina 1989 LIE  1:47.21  +1.73  20.50
 15  14  56087 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 1991 AUT  1:47.22  +1.74  20.62
 16  19  56125 PUCHNER Mirjam 1992 AUT  1:47.25  +1.77  20.98
 17  5  56128 HUETTER Cornelia 1992 AUT  1:47.36  +1.88  22.28
 18  35  56198 SCHEYER Christine 1994 AUT  1:47.47  +1.99  23.58
 18  31  6535237 SHIFFRIN Mikaela 1995 USA  1:47.47  +1.99  23.58
 20  13  516319 SUTER Corinne 1994 SUI  1:47.50  +2.02  23.94
 21  52  155763 LEDECKA Ester 1995 CZE  1:47.64  +2.16  25.60
 22  3  296729 FANCHINI Nadia 1986 ITA  1:47.65  +2.17  25.72
 23  25  539536 WILES Jacqueline 1992 USA  1:47.68  +2.20  26.07
 24  12  55970 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole 1989 AUT  1:47.76  +2.28  27.02
 25  38  206460 WENIG Michaela 1992 GER  1:47.82  +2.34  27.73
 26  45  197295 PIOT Jennifer 1992 FRA  1:47.84  +2.36  27.97
 26  18  297910 CURTONI Elena 1991 ITA  1:47.84  +2.36  27.97
 28  39  107613 GRENIER Valerie 1996 CAN  1:47.95  +2.47  29.27
 29  37  197497 MIRADOLI Romane 1994 FRA  1:48.04  +2.56  30.34
 30  8  55576 GOERGL Elisabeth 1981 AUT  1:48.08  +2.60  30.81
 31  44  538305 SMITH Leanne 1987 USA  1:48.18  +2.70  32.00
 32  40  299466 DELAGO Nicol 1996 ITA  1:48.27  +2.79  33.06
 33  47  375018 COLETTI Alexandra 1983 MON  1:48.31  +2.83  33.54
 34  41  56328 ORTLIEB Nina 1996 AUT  1:48.43  +2.95  34.96
 35  43  299402 GASSLITTER Verena 1996 ITA  1:48.44  +2.96  35.08
 36  51  516219 NUFER Priska 1992 SUI  1:48.50  +3.02  35.79
 37  46  206520 DORSCH Patrizia 1994 GER  1:48.56  +3.08  36.50
 38  34  206668 WEIDLE Kira 1996 GER  1:48.57  +3.09  36.62
 39  16  296431 STUFFER Verena 1984 ITA  1:48.76  +3.28  38.87
 40  23  56224 MAIER Sabrina 1994 AUT  1:48.84  +3.36  39.82
 41  4  297702 MARSAGLIA Francesca 1990 ITA  1:48.98  +3.50  41.48
 42  49  197615 BESSY Anouk 1995 FRA  1:49.10  +3.62  42.90
 43  36  196812 PELLISSIER Marion 1988 FRA  1:49.11  +3.63  43.02
 44  9  515766 SUTER Fabienne 1985 SUI  1:49.21  +3.73  44.20
 45  22  515997 FEIERABEND Denise 1989 SUI  1:49.25  +3.77  44.68
 46  54  196928 WORLEY Tessa 1989 FRA  1:49.65  +4.17  49.42
 47  50  197641 GAUCHE Laura 1995 FRA  1:49.83  +4.35  51.55
 48  55  539457 MARNO Anna 1992 USA  1:49.90  +4.42  52.38
 49  59  107387 CRAWFORD Candace 1994 CAN  1:50.75  +5.27  62.45
 50  53  197665 LARROUY Noemie 1995 FRA  1:50.86  +5.38  63.76
 51  56  107697 FLECKENSTEIN Stefanie 1997 CAN  1:51.36  +5.88  69.68
 52  58  415213 WILLINGER Georgia 1997 NZL  1:51.66  +6.18  73.24
Did not start 1st run
 57  107532 TOMMY Mikaela 1995 CAN
 48  155563 KRIZOVA Klara 1989 CZE
Did not finish 1st run
 32  56258 AGER Christina 1995 AUT
 30  516185 HAEHLEN Joana 1992 SUI
 26  425929 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 1992 NOR
 24  538685 MCKENNIS Alice 1989 USA
 2  196968 BAILET Margot 1990 FRA

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About the Author: Sean Higgins

A Lake Tahoe native and University of Vermont graduate, Higgins was a member of the Catamounts' 2012 NCAA title winning squad and earned first team All-American honors in 2013. Prior to coming to Ski Racing Media, he coached U14s for the Squaw Valley Ski Team.