Sofia Goggia celebrates an Italian home victory in the downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo. The 29-year-old Bergamaskin wins on the 2026 Olympic slope, which was shortened due to the wind, ahead of the Austrian Ramona Siebenhofer and the Czech Ester Ledecka.
Sofia Goggia is also the fastest downhiller in Cortina.
(sda) Suter was missing on the 2026 Olympic course, which was shortened due to gusts of wind, in fourth place, seven hundredths to the third podium finish of the winter. Michelle Gisin finished sixth in only her second downhill of the season, having been on course for the podium until the final split. Lara Gut-Behrami was ninth, three places ahead of Priska Nufer, who fulfilled the Olympic requirement with her second top 15 classification.
Due to the wind, the start was delayed by about 20 driving seconds. Even so, the conditions were not the same for all drivers. One of the victims of the gusts was Lara Gut-Behrami, who was loudly irritated at the finish and sent a few unprintable Italian swear words into the camera. According to the impressions of the trainers, Corinne Suter also had major drifts at the edge of the piste.
“The wind was a bit everywhere, but I didn’t drive really well either, so I blame myself,” said Suter in the SRF interview. Gisin, who was still on par with Goggia in second place at the penultimate time, was primarily annoyed with herself: “It’s a shame that I threw away an even better result at the bottom. I wanted to drive too perfectly. But the result is still great.”
These are the queens of speed of today’s downhill in @cortinaSkiWcup , but one above all is Sofia!
1️⃣ @goggiasofia
2️⃣ Ramona Siebenhofer
3️⃣ @LedeckaEster #fisalpine pic.twitter.com/cAuvbu6wzy— FIS Alpine (@fisalpine) January 22, 2022
Meanwhile, Sofia Goggia was unaffected by the conditions. “I had so much wind, I couldn’t see the snow,” said the 29-year-old. But although she made several small blunders, she held her ground by two tenths. “I think this is my best day on skis in my entire career.”
For Goggia it was already the sixth win of the season. In the fifth descent, the currently undisputed best speed rider triumphed for the fourth time. The series was only interrupted by the failure in Zauchensee a week ago. With twelve World Cup victories in the fastest discipline, Goggia is now Italy’s most successful downhill skier alongside Isolde Kostner. Overall, the dominator from Bergamo, who missed the home World Cup in Cortina a year ago due to injury, holds 17 World Cup victories.
On Sunday (11.45 a.m.) there is still a Super-G on the program at the Tofana. The last speed station before the Olympic Games in Beijing is Garmisch-Partenkirchen in a week.