Like last season, Sofia Goggia claims a double victory in the Downhill in Lake Louise. She celebrated in Canada her 19th World Cup victory and her 4th straight Downhill win on the "Olympic" racecourse. Of the last 22 downhill events at the Women's Alpine Ski World Cup, 10 have been won by Sofia Goggia.
In a shortened racecourse, due to gusts of wind, the 30-year-old Italian finished +0.34 seconds ahead of Austrian Nina Ortlieb. Corinne Suter rounded out the podium in third place +0.37 seconds behind Goggia.
It's the first in the last ten seasons a woman skier won the opening World Cup Downhill in successive years since Lindsey Vonn achieved it in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013.
Goggia won ten of the last 14 World Cup Downhill events she participated in. The exceptions came in Zauchensee (DNF) on 15 January, Crans-Montana (12th, 3rd) on 26 and 27 February, and the Alpine Ski World Cup Finals in Courchevel-Meribel (12th).
With 14 wins, Sofia Goggia tops the ranking of victories in the Downhill World Cup among Italian women. On the all-time women's list for most World Cup wins in this discipline, Goggia is ranked in seventh place.
“Today was a quite perfect run. There was a lot of wind at the start. We had to be focused and committed today. I skied the perfect run I wanted to in my head. The last two years were unbelievable for me here. Here I broke my knee in 2013 and in 2016 got my first podium in the Downhill here. And now winning five races in a row is incredible. It is sad we won’t race here again but I think FIS will find a good replacement”, said Goggia.
For Nina Ortlieb today's second place represents her third World Cup Podium and her best result in the Downhill.
After two years the skier from Innsbruck is back on the podium. The last time the 26-year-old was on the Top-3 in the World Cup was in La Thuile in the Super-G in 2020. Ortlieb returned to the World Cup in Lake Louise after a 23-month break and seven surgical operations. On January 20, 2021, in the first training session for the Crans-Montana World Cup Downhill, Ortlieb had a bad fall; she tore a cruciate ligament, medial ligament, lateral meniscus, and patellar tendon.
"I'm a bit speechless myself. The run went well for me, I tried to give everything. I did really well, I'm proud of myself today", Ortlieb said.
After yesterday's second place, missing the top position by 0.04 seconds, Corinne Suter finished today in third place +0.03 seconds behind Ortlieb. It's Suter's 21st podium finish in the World Cup. Since the start of the 2018-2019 season, Olympic and World Champion Corinne Suter collected a record of 14 Downhill podiums in the women's World Cup.
“It was windy today. But I tried my best. Yesterday when I watched the video, I wanted to ski the turns in coach’s corner better and today I did it. The technical part was okay and the other part I have to analyze later. It is difficult to say now”, said Suter.