Sofia Goggia wins World Cup downhill, closes in on season title

Sofia Goggia. Photo: GEPA pictures

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Sofia Goggia is racing toward another World Cup downhill title with a fifth 2022-23 victory in Crans Montana.

The queen of speed, Goggia, wins her fourth career Crans Montana downhill. She is willing to push the limits more than any other and seems to be able to exist at the razor’s edge of disaster.

“It was really a relief for me because it was tough (that) I crashed in the one and only training run,” said Goggia, whose 22nd career World Cup win was her 17th in the downhill.

Joining Goggia on the podium in second place is her teammate and rival Federica Brignone. While Goggia skied with bib, 9 Brignone skied with bib 21, a testament to the quality of the racing surface. While Brignone equaled Goggia’s performance for most of the course, she could not match the winner’s speed in the final two sectors.

Laura Gauche wearing the No. 26 bib placed third, (+0.42) behind Goggia, for her first career podium. The French racer’s previous best result in downhill was seventh.

“It’s amazing, I didn’t expect that,” said Gauché, who acknowledged “I feel lucky with the visibility because the first racers had really bad visibility.”

On the course, Goggia always takes every opportunity to be aggressive. Although she had crashed on the only training run, she skied the entire run at the limits of possibility. The Italian kept the fans on edge during her entire run as she challenged every sector. Today she made it to the finish with the lead and a big smile.

Downhill season’s title

Today is Goggia’s fifth win in seven World Cup downhills earning 100 World Cup points to extend her lead in the season-long downhill standings to more than 170 over Ilka Štuhec, who finished today in ninth place.

With two downhills left — next weekend at Kvitfjell, Norway and March 15 at the final week’s races at Soldeu, Andorra — Goggia needs just a single top-10 finish in either race to secure a fourth career crystal globe trophy.

Goggia’s 22nd career World Cup win came two weeks after she crashed out as the favorite at the world championships and was her 17th in the downhill. Todya’s result lifted her into a tie for fourth place in career World Cup wins in the marquee speed discipline. Lindsey Vonn leads with 43 wins.

The course

Today’s snow surface was perfect and allowed the skiers to be aggressive. Consequently, the athletes provided outstanding skiing on a course blessed with many aesthetically pleasing big sweeping turns. However, through the first 15 racers, the time spread among them was significant (+2.30).

While the temperatures cooperated, the fog continued to be an issue. Unfortunately, after delaying the start a half hour, the second forerunner crashed into the fence and caused further delay. The downhill was rescheduled from Saturday when a combination of poor visibility on a lower section and a soft snow surface in the sunshine made racing too dangerous. Nonetheless, the vast crowd entertained themselves with songs and camaraderie. Their patience paid off and after days of delays, they were treated to a fantastic sporting event.

North Americans

Mikaela Shiffrin did not start as she takes a break after the world championships with a massive lead of more than 700 points in the overall World Cup standings. The 27-year-old American is well on track to win a fifth giant crystal globe as the overall season-long champion.

Notably, today’s top North American was Breezy Johnson. Johnson finished 11th (+0.87) and continues to experience growing success during her comeback season. Johnson skied with her trademark aggression and power. Her teammate, Isabella Wright, was also pushing hard and experiencing a fast run when suddenly she went past her limits near the bottom of the course and crashed. Fortunately, she could ski to the finish and greet the crowd. Wright continues to show the kind of aggression seen in champions.

“I’m really happy with the results to still be in the top 15 and feel like I’m still pushing forward. It’s a tough sport, it’s a tough game,” said Johnson. “The conditions today were not easy running early, but I don’t think they were really easy for anyone.”

Independent American Tricia Mangan (+2.20) achieved her second World Cup score of the season. She had attended the Europa Cup in Crans Montana before the World Cup and the experience paid dividends. She skied confidently and was rewarded with 30th place.

An athlete scores their first points only once

However, Mangan’s teammate, Independent Canadian, Stefanie Fleckenstein, delivered the North American story of the day. She also raced in the Crans Montana Europa Cup and experienced moderate success but gained enough information and confidence to ski her way into 23rd place in the World Cup. Fleckenstein was the last skier on the course but descended using great tactics and clean skiing to score her career-first World Cup points.

Fleckenstein comments on her first time in the points, “I’ve been thinking about this moment for a long time, and just coming across and actually seeing it happen was one of the most surreal feelings I’ve ever had. It was pure joy and relief. And then to see that Tricia was also in there really just opened my eyes to the fact that this (their independent team) is working and we can do this. So it was just pure excitement, joy, and a lot of relief.

Fleckenstein continued, “I’ve been struggling a lot this season with putting runs together and getting everything working in the right direction. During the Europa Cups, I made a lot of strides in the four days and afterward I was just way more comfortable on the hill and kind of saw the opportunity where it was starting to become clear and wanted to take it. I was definitely more confident going into today and I knew the hill really well because we’d been here all last week, so I just decided to send it and it worked out.”

Canada’s veteran Marie-Michele Gagnon did not start for an unknown reason.

Top 30 results and analysis of the fastest three and top 30 North Americans

Analysis of the fastest three and top 30 North Americans.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This is a developing story, stay tuned for updates.