Gut golden in Cortina d’Ampezzo downhill

By Published On: January 28th, 2017Comments Off on Gut golden in Cortina d’Ampezzo downhill

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — You couldn’t have asked for more perfect conditions for the women’s downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on Saturday as picture-perfect skies and even better snow were the name of the game. Switzerland’s Lara Gut claimed her first downhill win of the season with a total time of 1:37.08 seconds, barely edging out Italy’s own Sofia Goggia in second by 0.05 seconds. Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec rounded out the podium in third, 0.47 seconds off the pace.

With many of the top racers choosing to start in the middle of the top-30 starters, Stuhec set the early pace with bib nine, only to have it taken away two racers later by a surging Goggia to the cheers of the Italian fans. Running a few racers later with bib 15, Gut struggled to find her form on the upper section of the course, but was able to refocus and whittle away at her deficit before a strong final interval gave her the speed to cross the line just in front of Goggia.

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, ITALY - JANUARY 28: Sofia Goggia of Italy takes 2nd place, Lara Gut of Switzerland takes 1st place, Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia takes 3rd place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Downhill on January 28, 2017 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy (Photo by Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom)

Photo by Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom

Gut’s victory now closes the gap between her and American Mikaela Shiffrin in the overall standings to only 30 points heading into tomorrow’s super-G, a race where both rivals are set to start.  If both athletes keep skiing the way they have been this season, it’s going to come down to the wire to decide this season’s overall winner.

“The top wasn’t really clean, and I didn’t trust myself to push one-hundred percent on the skis, so after the second split, I really had the feeling that I had to change something,” Gut explained in the finish. “I tried to ski a little bit smoother, and it worked out. I’m happy. I knew that if I did what I can, I could be really fast.”

Although Goggia would have loved to take the victory in front of a home crowd, she was satisfied with her performance and will continue to bring her now signature attacking style to the remainder of the season.

“I think I made a great performance today in the downhill,” she said. “I’m pretty happy with my skiing, but still a little bittersweetness for the last interval but still, it’s really ok. I’m trying to push every race close to my limits. It’s ok when you try and fail, the important thing is not to lose the confidence you have earned during the season, I don’t.”

Saturday’s result was Stuhec’s first World Cup podium that wasn’t a victory after the Slovene took the first three downhills of the season. Despite the strong performance, she is hungry for more as she looks to hold on to the red leader’s bib for the remainder of the season.

“My run felt ok, not perfect, because I know that I made some mistakes and lost some time; that’s why I’m not winning, I guess,” Stuhec said. “But for sure, it’s a beautiful day to ski and here is always very, very nice because we’ve done two trainings and a race and there is no track in the snow, no nothing, so it is perfect and I love it.”

For the Americans, Breezy Johnson led the way with a 10th-place finish — her first World Cup top 10 — and has shown very encouraging results all season, scoring at multiple venues as a relative newcomer to the circuit.

“I’m really excited,” she said after the race. “I just try and execute my plan every day, so I’m happy with my skiing. There were definitely spots that weren’t perfect, but I just tried to keep it going and keep carrying the speed, and I think the bottom was really good, so I’m happy with that. I just hope I can carry that and maybe go to St. Moritz.”

Following Johnson was Stacey Cook in 11th, and Jacqueline Wiles and Alice McKennis finished 17th and 18th, respectively. Laurenne Ross finished the day in 22nd after a costly mistake, and Leanne Smith continued her return from injury just outside of the points in 32nd.

American star Lindsey Vonn failed to finish after falling victim to the same turn that took her out in Friday’s training run and finding herself in the net. Vonn walked away unharmed, however, and is looking forward to another chance in Sunday’s super-G.

“I felt like I was going pretty fast into (the turn), so I slowed myself down,” she explained. “When I landed, there as a little bit of a bump and my outside ski caught, and I did the splits and just went straight in the fence. I’m happy with my effort, and I’m just going to look forward to tomorrow.”

The women now race super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Sunday.

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Top 10

  1. Lara Gut (SUI) – Head/Head/Head
  2. Sofia Goggia (ITA) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  3. Ilka Stuhec (SLO) – Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
  4. Viktoria Rebensburg (GER) – Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
  5. Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT) – Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  6. Verena Stuffer (ITA) – Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  7. Johanna Schnarf (ITA) – Fisher/Fischer/Fischer
  8. Kajsa Kling (SWE) – Head/Head/Head
  9. Tamara Tippler (AUT) – Voelkl/Dalbello/Marker
  10. Breezy Johnson (USA) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points WC Points
 1  15  516138 GUT Lara 1991 SUI  1:37.08  0.00  100.00
 2  11  298323 GOGGIA Sofia 1992 ITA  1:37.13  +0.05  0.64  80.00
 3  9  565360 STUHEC Ilka 1990 SLO  1:37.55  +0.47  6.05  60.00
 4  5  205218 REBENSBURG Viktoria 1989 GER  1:37.61  +0.53  6.82  50.00
 5  10  55970 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole 1989 AUT  1:37.85  +0.77  9.91  45.00
 6  21  296431 STUFFER Verena 1984 ITA  1:37.86  +0.78  10.04  40.00
 7  3  296427 SCHNARF Johanna 1984 ITA  1:38.00  +0.92  11.85  36.00
 8  19  505886 KLING Kajsa 1988 SWE  1:38.04  +0.96  12.36  32.00
 9  30  56088 TIPPLER Tamara 1991 AUT  1:38.08  +1.00  12.88  29.00
 10  26  6535455 JOHNSON Breezy 1996 USA  1:38.26  +1.18  15.19  26.00
 11  20  537582 COOK Stacey 1984 USA  1:38.35  +1.27  16.35  24.00
 12  31  297601 BRIGNONE Federica 1990 ITA  1:38.36  +1.28  16.48  22.00
 12  18  56177 VENIER Stephanie 1993 AUT  1:38.36  +1.28  16.48  22.00
 14  7  355050 WEIRATHER Tina 1989 LIE  1:38.41  +1.33  17.13  18.00
 15  22  425929 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 1992 NOR  1:38.42  +1.34  17.25  16.00
 16  14  296472 FANCHINI Elena 1985 ITA  1:38.50  +1.42  18.28  15.00
 17  28  539536 WILES Jacqueline 1992 USA  1:38.56  +1.48  19.06  14.00
 18  24  538685 MCKENNIS Alice 1989 USA  1:38.58  +1.50  19.31  13.00
 19  13  515766 SUTER Fabienne 1985 SUI  1:38.59  +1.51  19.44  12.00
 19  4  55947 VEITH Anna 1989 AUT  1:38.59  +1.51  19.44  12.00
 21  6  297910 CURTONI Elena 1991 ITA  1:38.68  +1.60  20.60  10.00
 22  8  538573 ROSS Laurenne 1988 USA  1:38.73  +1.65  21.25  9.00
 23  43  515997 FEIERABEND Denise 1989 SUI  1:38.77  +1.69  21.76  8.00
 24  36  516284 GISIN Michelle 1993 SUI  1:38.92  +1.84  23.69  7.00
 25  1  516319 SUTER Corinne 1994 SUI  1:38.94  +1.86  23.95  6.00
 26  39  426043 TVIBERG Maria Therese 1994 NOR  1:38.99  +1.91  24.59  5.00
 27  37  206460 WENIG Michaela 1992 GER  1:39.00  +1.92  24.72  4.00
 28  2  56125 PUCHNER Mirjam 1992 AUT  1:39.02  +1.94  24.98  3.00
 29  49  56174 HAASER Ricarda 1993 AUT  1:39.03  +1.95  25.11  2.00
 30  27  297702 MARSAGLIA Francesca 1990 ITA  1:39.05  +1.97  25.37  1.00
 31  35  197383 GAUTHIER Tiffany 1993 FRA  1:39.17  +2.09  26.91
 32  41  538305 SMITH Leanne 1987 USA  1:39.60  +2.52  32.45
 33  32  206668 WEIDLE Kira 1996 GER  1:39.64  +2.56  32.96
 34  23  516248 FLURY Jasmine 1993 SUI  1:39.67  +2.59  33.35
 35  25  516185 HAEHLEN Joana 1992 SUI  1:39.72  +2.64  33.99
 36  46  299276 BASSINO Marta 1996 ITA  1:39.82  +2.74  35.28
 36  44  375018 COLETTI Alexandra 1983 MON  1:39.82  +2.74  35.28
 38  29  516219 NUFER Priska 1992 SUI  1:39.98  +2.90  37.34
 39  16  55576 GOERGL Elisabeth 1981 AUT  1:40.04  +2.96  38.11
 40  34  197497 MIRADOLI Romane 1994 FRA  1:40.09  +3.01  38.76
 41  40  197295 PIOT Jennifer 1992 FRA  1:40.26  +3.18  40.95
 42  48  107532 TOMMY Mikaela 1995 CAN  1:40.79  +3.71  47.77
 43  47  107387 CRAWFORD Candace 1994 CAN  1:41.20  +4.12  53.05
 44  45  485749 PROKOPYEVA Aleksandra 1994 RUS  1:41.55  +4.47  57.56
 45  42  206520 DORSCH Patrizia 1994 GER  1:42.49  +5.41  69.66
 46  50  35089 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena 1984 ARG  1:43.31  +6.23  80.22
Did not finish 1st run
 38  107613 GRENIER Valerie 1996 CAN
 33  299466 DELAGO Nicol 1996 ITA
 17  537544 VONN Lindsey 1984 USA
 12  56087 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 1991 AUT

 

 

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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.