Stuhec stuns with third consecutive downhill victory

By Published On: December 17th, 2016Comments Off on Stuhec stuns with third consecutive downhill victory

As she stood on the top spot of the World Cup downhill podium for the third time in a row on Saturday, Ilka Stuhec shook her head in disbelief, apparently stunned by her own success. The Slovenian maintained control of the downhill standings with her second victory in as many days at Val d’Isere.

The win was hard fought. Before the first racer kicked out of the start gate, the track had already been skied three times for training runs and Friday’s alpine combined, making the track a bumpy ride. Stuhec was able to stay strong and take the win by 0.28 seconds.

“Everyday, everyone is sliding through it,” the Slovenian said. “It’s been the fourth day today that we’ve skied the course, and it’s always getting a bit wilder, I guess. I just tried to ski it the way I imagined it. It didn’t work out that way, but apparently, fast enough.”

Stuhec was joined on the podium by Austrian Cornelia Huetter and Italian Sofia Goggia, who earned second and third place, respectively. Huetter now has ten World Cup podium finishes to her name, and this marked her first of the 2016-17 season.

“It’s amazing,” she shared. “The last weeks were not very good for me, and it’s hard to rehab again and find the speed from the last year. Today was not easy in my head, but at the end, it’s good.”

The Austrian also commented that course was bumpier and felt a bit faster on Saturday. That combined with the fact that most of the course is in shadows meant athletes had to “stand forward to the ski and feel really self-confident.”

Goggia repeated her performance from the alpine combined. The always humorous Italian jokingly requested that reporters not ask her how it feels to be on the podium so many times in a row because she would simply say, “It feels great.” Instead of talking about her own strong performance, she mentioned the success of her team as there were four Italians in the top 10.

“I’m happy for them because I know they work hard,” she shared. “They have also some physical problems, but we are downhill lions. It’s our hashtag, so today we can stay connected to this hashtag.”

Goggia also has a friendly relationship with the day’s winner, and noted how hard Stuhec has worked to earn these downhill wins.

“Ilka is a really nice person, a nice girl who suffered also a lot of injuries on the knees, so we start from the same ground because we know what suffering means with all the trouble, physical, mental,” the Italian explained. “…If she worked as hard as I did, she really deserved this.”

Goggia currently sits in second in the overall standings with 467 points, just 31 behind Shiffrin, who is leading. Stuhec has moved into the top three with 445 total points. Switzerland’s Lara Gut did not finish the downhill race and sits in fourth in the overall standings with 393 points.

One of the most notable performances of the day came from Gut’s teammate Michelle Gisin. The Swiss athlete took her momentum from yesterday and channeled it into a seventh-place result in the downhill, coming from bib 51.

After Friday’s performance in the downhill run in the alpine combined, fans had hoped to see American Laurenne Ross go for the win in the downhill. However, the athlete was struck by the flu the night before the race and made the choice to not start on Saturday. Ross’ teammates had strong performances in her absence. Young gun Breezy Johnson lead the U.S. Ski Team with a 13th-place result.

“I worked really hard all summer, so it’s really great to see it pay off in a place like this where I really didn’t expect a whole lot because I’ve never raced here before,” Johnson said. “My technician and I were talking and he was like ‘Anything above 25 is really just bonus points,’ so I’m really excited about being able to come here and maybe notch a top 15. That’s way more than I ever could have expected.”

Alice McKennis finished the day in 14th while Stacey Cook and Jacqueline Wiles earned top 30 results, coming in 21st and 22nd respectively. Leanne Smith ended up in 36th position.

Ladies’ World Cup racing continues tomorrow with super-G in Val d’Isere.


Top 10

  1. Ilka Stuhec (SLO) – Stoeckli / Lange / Marker
  2. Cornelia Huetter (AUT) – Voelkl / Marker / Dalbello
  3. Sofia Goggia (ITA) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  4. Nadia Fanchini (ITA) – Dynastar / Lange / Look
  5. Johanna Schnarf (AUT) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
  6. Elena Fanchini (ITA) – Dynastar / Lange / Look
  7. Michelle Gisin (SUI) – Rossignol / Rossignol / Rossignol
  8. Tina Weirather (LIE) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  9. Christine Scheyer (AUT) – Head / Head / Head
  10. Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT) – Head / Head / Head

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points
 1  13  565360 STUHEC Ilka 1990 SLO  1:46.14  0.00
 2  7  56128 HUETTER Cornelia 1992 AUT  1:46.42  +0.28  3.30
 3  4  298323 GOGGIA Sofia 1992 ITA  1:46.46  +0.32  3.77
 4  15  296729 FANCHINI Nadia 1986 ITA  1:46.56  +0.42  4.95
 5  10  296427 SCHNARF Johanna 1984 ITA  1:46.61  +0.47  5.54
 6  14  296472 FANCHINI Elena 1985 ITA  1:46.64  +0.50  5.89
 7  51  516284 GISIN Michelle 1993 SUI  1:46.85  +0.71  8.36
 8  1  355050 WEIRATHER Tina 1989 LIE  1:46.95  +0.81  9.54
 9  29  56198 SCHEYER Christine 1994 AUT  1:47.01  +0.87  10.25
 10  20  56087 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 1991 AUT  1:47.23  +1.09  12.84
 11  30  56177 VENIER Stephanie 1993 AUT  1:47.24  +1.10  12.95
 12  19  245066 MIKLOS Edit 1988 HUN  1:47.38  +1.24  14.60
 13  21  6535455 JOHNSON Breezy 1996 USA  1:47.43  +1.29  15.19
 14  32  297601 BRIGNONE Federica 1990 ITA  1:47.55  +1.41  16.61
 14  27  538685 MCKENNIS Alice 1989 USA  1:47.55  +1.41  16.61
 16  3  516319 SUTER Corinne 1994 SUI  1:47.64  +1.50  17.67
 17  2  55970 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole 1989 AUT  1:47.71  +1.57  18.49
 18  5  505886 KLING Kajsa 1988 SWE  1:47.79  +1.65  19.43
 19  26  516185 HAEHLEN Joana 1992 SUI  1:47.90  +1.76  20.73
 20  25  425929 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 1992 NOR  1:47.95  +1.81  21.32
 21  6  537582 COOK Stacey 1984 USA  1:48.00  +1.86  21.91
 22  24  539536 WILES Jacqueline 1992 USA  1:48.15  +2.01  23.67
 23  12  56125 PUCHNER Mirjam 1992 AUT  1:48.16  +2.02  23.79
 24  48  516219 NUFER Priska 1992 SUI  1:48.34  +2.20  25.91
 24  45  375018 COLETTI Alexandra 1983 MON  1:48.34  +2.20  25.91
 26  16  297910 CURTONI Elena 1991 ITA  1:48.50  +2.36  27.79
 27  23  297702 MARSAGLIA Francesca 1990 ITA  1:48.51  +2.37  27.91
 28  39  299466 DELAGO Nicol 1996 ITA  1:48.54  +2.40  28.26
 29  44  515997 FEIERABEND Denise 1989 SUI  1:48.67  +2.53  29.80
 30  8  55576 GOERGL Elisabeth 1981 AUT  1:48.69  +2.55  30.03
 31  31  197295 PIOT Jennifer 1992 FRA  1:48.98  +2.84  33.45
 31  22  426043 TVIBERG Maria Therese 1994 NOR  1:48.98  +2.84  33.45
 33  42  565320 FERK Marusa 1988 SLO  1:49.01  +2.87  33.80
 34  35  206668 WEIDLE Kira 1996 GER  1:49.17  +3.03  35.68
 35  33  56258 AGER Christina 1995 AUT  1:49.22  +3.08  36.27
 36  46  197383 GAUTHIER Tiffany 1993 FRA  1:49.23  +3.09  36.39
 36  41  538305 SMITH Leanne 1987 USA  1:49.23  +3.09  36.39
 38  36  196812 PELLISSIER Marion 1988 FRA  1:49.30  +3.16  37.21
 39  37  206460 WENIG Michaela 1992 GER  1:49.44  +3.30  38.86
 40  38  107613 GRENIER Valerie 1996 CAN  1:49.51  +3.37  39.69
 41  47  197641 GAUCHE Laura 1995 FRA  1:49.86  +3.72  43.81
 42  40  56224 MAIER Sabrina 1994 AUT  1:49.97  +3.83  45.11
 43  43  206520 DORSCH Patrizia 1994 GER  1:49.99  +3.85  45.34
 44  49  565333 BRODNIK Vanja 1989 SLO  1:50.23  +4.09  48.17
 45  50  197665 LARROUY Noemie 1995 FRA  1:50.34  +4.20  49.46
 46  52  197592 REILLER Gaelle 1995 FRA  1:51.48  +5.34  62.89
 47  53  35089 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena 1984 ARG  1:52.78  +6.64  78.20
Disqualified 1st run
 28  196968 BAILET Margot 1990 FRA
Did not start 1st run
 17  205218 REBENSBURG Viktoria 1989 GER
 11  538573 ROSS Laurenne 1988 USA
Did not finish 1st run
 34  516248 FLURY Jasmine 1993 SUI
 18  296431 STUFFER Verena 1984 ITA
 9  516138 GUT Lara 1991 SUI

 

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About the Author: Gabbi Hall

A California native, Gabbi moved to Vermont to ski on the NCAA circuit for St. Michael’s College, where she served as team captain and studied journalism. Before joining Ski Racing, she worked as a broadcast TV producer and social media manager in higher education. She can be reached via email at gabbi@skiracing.com