Goggia, Vonn and Stuhec return to podium in Jeongseon

By Published On: March 4th, 2017Comments Off on Goggia, Vonn and Stuhec return to podium in Jeongseon

Conditions on Sunday for the women’s World Cup super-G at Jeongseon, South Korea, stood in contrast to the sunny Saturday downhill. Flat light due to high cloud cover challenged the best athletes in the world as they continued to learn the intricacies of the terrain at the new venue, which will play host to the men’s and women’s speed events during the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom

Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom

Italian standout Sofia Goggia seems to have figured out the slope, winning her second race in as many days and earning the 11th World Cup podium of her career. Once again, living legend Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. was in second, and Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec was in third, making this an exact repeat of the podium in Saturday’s downhill.

Stuhec took an early 0.75 second lead, coming down with bib 5. The Slovenian understood that she had to keep a steady, high line down the course to maintain her speed–something many athletes struggled with in part due to the rolling terrain. After Stuhec’s run, it took 12 athletes before she was challenged by Goggia, who came down with a final time of 1:20.35, 0.51 seconds ahead of the Slovenian. Vonn came down just two people later with bib 19, sliding into second place with only 0.04 seconds between her and the victory.

Super-G has been a tricky event for Goggia this season. She has only finished three of the six races, but when she has finished, the results were in the top 3.

“It feels amazing because super-G this year was pretty difficult to me,” the Italian shared. “I never found the right balance between pushing and to use the tactics and today, I really tried to ski.”

For Vonn, the result is something of a breakthrough. The American has not been on a World Cup super-G podium since Feb. 2016, just before she was sidelined with her tibial plateau injury. On the other hand, Vonn is hungry for more wins and frustrated with missing the victory by such a slim margin.

“I’m really happy,” Vonn said. “It’s definitely the best super-G performance I’ve had all season by a long shot, so it’s nice to see that I still have the speed and it’s coming back around. Definitely frustrated with the amount of time that I’m getting second place by, but you know, if I’ve learned one thing in ski racing, it’s that those hundredths always come back and I’m hoping that they come back next year for the Olympics, so I’ll bide my time. I’ll be patient, and everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”

Half a second off the leader, Stuhec added another podium to her collection with her third-place result. All of Stuhec’s 11 career podium results are from this season. Coming into the day, Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather was the leader in the super-G standings, only 16 points ahead of her closest threat, Stuhec. At the end of the race, Weirather was in ninth place, giving up her lead to Stuhec, as the ladies head into their final super-G in Aspen, Colo. The Slovenian has 350 points while Weirather has 335.

Stuhec has already secured the alpine combined globe and has a chance to win the downhill, super-G and overall globes in the coming weeks. However, she’s not focused or nervous about her potential to earn more season titles.

“No, the only nerves getting to Aspen I have is the sixteen hours time difference that we have from here to there, so that’s the only thing,” she said. “Otherwise, I’ll go like always, race for race, and do my best.”

In the final regular season speed races, the U.S. Ski Team’s Laurenne Ross had another strong performance, coming in sixth place. It was a tough race for the rest of the American squad. Alice McKennis, Jacqueline Wiles and Stacey Cook finished the day in 32nd, 34th and 35th, respectively. Anna Marno finished in 39th and Breezy Johnson finished in 42nd.

In the hunt for the overall title, American Mikaela Shiffrin still holds the lead with 1323 points and four technical races left this season in addition to a super-G and downhill. Stuhec has closed the gap slightly in South Korea, decreasing Shiffrin’s lead to 178 points. Goggia, who sits in fourth in the standings behind injured skier Lara Gut of Switzerland, is not all that far away from the lead with 1021 total points.

The women now complete a round-the-world trip and head to Squaw Valley, Calif. for the giant slalom and slalom races on March 9-10 before World Cup Finals in Aspen.


Top 10

  1. Sofia Goggia (ITA) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  2. Lindsey Vonn (USA) – Head / Head / Head
  3. Ilka Stuhec (SLO) – Stoeckli / Lange /Atomic
  4. Federica Brignone (ITA) –  Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
  5. Jasmine Flury (SUI) – Stoeckli / Lange / Marker
  6. Laurenne Ross (USA) – Volkl / Marker / Dalbello
  7. Viktoria Rebensburg (GER) – Stoeckli / Lange / Marker
  8. Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
  9. Tina Weirather (LIE) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  10. Elena Curtoni (ITA) – Head / Head / Head

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points WC Points
 1  17  298323 GOGGIA Sofia 1992 ITA  1:20.35  0.00  100.00
 2  19  537544 VONN Lindsey 1984 USA  1:20.39  +0.04  0.54  80.00
 3  5  565360 STUHEC Ilka 1990 SLO  1:20.86  +0.51  6.86  60.00
 4  13  297601 BRIGNONE Federica 1990 ITA  1:21.15  +0.80  10.75  50.00
 5  29  516248 FLURY Jasmine 1993 SUI  1:21.32  +0.97  13.04  45.00
 6  6  538573 ROSS Laurenne 1988 USA  1:21.60  +1.25  16.80  40.00
 7  1  205218 REBENSBURG Viktoria 1989 GER  1:21.61  +1.26  16.94  36.00
 8  11  55970 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole 1989 AUT  1:21.63  +1.28  17.20  32.00
 9  3  355050 WEIRATHER Tina 1989 LIE  1:21.67  +1.32  17.74  29.00
 10  7  297910 CURTONI Elena 1991 ITA  1:21.71  +1.36  18.28  26.00
 11  16  296427 SCHNARF Johanna 1984 ITA  1:21.77  +1.42  19.09  24.00
 12  34  105269 GAGNON Marie-Michele 1989 CAN  1:21.80  +1.45  19.49  22.00
 13  2  56198 SCHEYER Christine 1994 AUT  1:21.84  +1.49  20.03  20.00
 14  27  197383 GAUTHIER Tiffany 1993 FRA  1:21.92  +1.57  21.10  18.00
 15  14  297702 MARSAGLIA Francesca 1990 ITA  1:21.95  +1.60  21.51  16.00
 16  18  425929 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 1992 NOR  1:22.02  +1.67  22.45  15.00
 17  46  516284 GISIN Michelle 1993 SUI  1:22.18  +1.83  24.60  14.00
 18  39  56241 SCHNEEBERGER Rosina 1994 AUT  1:22.23  +1.88  25.27  13.00
 19  26  56174 HAASER Ricarda 1993 AUT  1:22.28  +1.93  25.94  12.00
 20  10  55576 GOERGL Elisabeth 1981 AUT  1:22.32  +1.97  26.48  11.00
 21  8  516319 SUTER Corinne 1994 SUI  1:22.33  +1.98  26.61  10.00
 22  28  107613 GRENIER Valerie 1996 CAN  1:22.39  +2.04  27.42  9.00
 23  9  56177 VENIER Stephanie 1993 AUT  1:22.40  +2.05  27.55  8.00
 24  31  515766 SUTER Fabienne 1985 SUI  1:22.45  +2.10  28.23  7.00
 25  20  516185 HAEHLEN Joana 1992 SUI  1:22.52  +2.17  29.17  6.00
 26  15  505886 KLING Kajsa 1988 SWE  1:22.60  +2.25  30.24  5.00
 27  35  297195 HOFER Anna 1988 ITA  1:22.72  +2.37  31.86  4.00
 28  24  516219 NUFER Priska 1992 SUI  1:22.74  +2.39  32.12  3.00
 29  21  426043 TVIBERG Maria Therese 1994 NOR  1:22.92  +2.57  34.54  2.00
 30  37  56224 MAIER Sabrina 1994 AUT  1:23.03  +2.68  36.02  1.00
 31  23  299276 BASSINO Marta 1996 ITA  1:23.05  +2.70  36.29
 32  40  538685 MCKENNIS Alice 1989 USA  1:23.09  +2.74  36.83
 33  41  296431 STUFFER Verena 1984 ITA  1:23.12  +2.77  37.23
 34  22  539536 WILES Jacqueline 1992 USA  1:23.17  +2.82  37.90
 35  43  537582 COOK Stacey 1984 USA  1:23.18  +2.83  38.04
 35  33  197641 GAUCHE Laura 1995 FRA  1:23.18  +2.83  38.04
 37  30  56087 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 1991 AUT  1:23.43  +3.08  41.40
 38  45  565320 FERK Marusa 1988 SLO  1:23.48  +3.13  42.07
 39  32  539457 MARNO Anna 1992 USA  1:23.51  +3.16  42.47
 40  36  206460 WENIG Michaela 1992 GER  1:23.71  +3.36  45.16
 41  44  197295 PIOT Jennifer 1992 FRA  1:23.81  +3.46  46.51
 42  25  6535455 JOHNSON Breezy 1996 USA  1:23.92  +3.57  47.99
 43  38  206520 DORSCH Patrizia 1994 GER  1:24.23  +3.88  52.15
Disqualified 1st run
 47  375018 COLETTI Alexandra 1983 MON
 42  196726 BARTHET Anne-Sophie 1988 FRA
Did not finish 1st run
 12  197497 MIRADOLI Romane 1994 FRA
 4  56088 TIPPLER Tamara 1991 AUT

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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