Defending World Cup Downhill Champion Cornelia Huetter won the first Downhill of the season in the Women's premiere at the Birds of Prey racecourse in Beaver Creek. Sofia Goggia finished in second place 0.16 seconds behind the Austrian. Lara Gut-Behrami rounded up the podium in third place +0.34 seconds off the pace.
The 22-year-old US rising star Lauren Macuga finished in 4th place +0.52 seconds behind Huetter.
Huetter celebrated her second consecutive Downhill victory, having also won the last race of last season at Saalbach during the Alpine Ski World Cup Finals. This win marked her third overall in this discipline. The 32-year-old has now stood on the top step of the World Cup podium seven times in her career. It's the first victory of the season for the Austrian Ski Team.
"It was crazy how I skied today. It's an honor to win here. It was mega-steep, you can't even imagine it. You have to fight all the way down. The last jump, it was a little bit scary. It was cool to ski," Huetter said.
In her comeback, after an injury during a training session in Ponte di Legno in February 2024, Sofia Goggia skied in her aggressive style trimming the line in an extreme manner but wasn't enough today for victory.
"I know it's a comeback race, but it feels like it's not a comeback race. Today I felt like I never left for the injury, but at the same time, I knew exactly what I had to pass and been through this summer when I was really close to quitting. I know it would have been so perfect to win today, but I wasn't so perfect at the bottom section. I had a good race but I think I skied 80 percent of my potential," Goggia said.
Starting just after Goggia, Lara Gut-Behrami was faster than the Italian on the second and third splits but couldn't maintain that advantage to the finish line.
"I am happy to be on the podium on the first Downhill of the season but at the same time a little disappointed. When I entered the flat section, I made a mistake that I should not have made. I lost a lot of speed and a lot of time there. I will try to do a little better tomorrow," Gut-Behrami said.
Today we saw Lindsey Vonn's first appearance on a World Cup Downhill after almost six years of "retirement". The 40-year-old American skied down as a forerunner and then announced that she will return to racing in the Alpine Ski World Cup for the first time since January 2019 in St. Moritz next Saturday. According to SRF, she was timed at 1:33.16 - that would have put her in ninth place.
"Next weekend. Two Super-Gs, I'll be there. I'm excited to be back," Vonn said.
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