Next weekend the Women's Alpine Ski World Cup is back to Cortina, the ‘Queen of the Dolomites’, with two days of action: a Downhill, and a Super-G race.
The Downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo at the iconic Olympia delle Tofane is one of the most eagerly awaited events in the speed disciplines in the women's Alpine Ski World Cup.
Cortina d'Ampezzo (ITA)
January 18th Downhill / Women 11:00 CET
Defending World Cup Downhill Champion Cornelia Hütter 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.
Until Beaver Creek each of the last ten Women's Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill events, including all eight of the 2023-2024 winter season, had a different winner: Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (Kvitfjell), Ilka Štuhec (Soldeu), Mikaela Shiffrin (St. Moritz), Jasmine Flury (Val d'Isere), Sofia Goggia (Zauchensee), Stephanie Venier (Cortina d'Ampezzo), Ragnhild Mowinckel (Cortina d'Ampezzo), Lara Gut-Behrami (Crans Montana), Marta Bassino (Crans Montana), and Cornelia Huetter (Saalbach).
Hütter celebrated in the US ski resort her second consecutive Downhill victory, having also won the last race of last season at Saalbach during the Alpine Ski World Cup Finals. It was her third victory in this speed discipline.
The 32-year-old has stood on the top step of the World Cup podium eight times in her career. It was the first victory of the season for the Austrian Ski Team. She achieved 16 of her 30 World Cup podiums in the Downhill discipline.
The Austrian skier finished 7th in the Downhill in St. Anton. She is leading the Downhill standings with 136 points.
Last Saturday Federica Brignone claimed her first Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill victory in St. Anton. Her win marks Brignone's eighth podium finish in the discipline and her 30th victory in the World Cup. The only Italian with over 30 World Cup victories is ski legend Alberto Tomba, who has 50.
In Cortina, she can win her 31st World Cup race across all disciplines, which would tie her for 11th on the women's all-time list with Petra Vlhova and Erika Hess.
Brignone can win her 4th World Cup race in a single season for the 4th time in her career. She previously achieved four or more wins in 2019-2020 (5), 2021-2022 (4), and 2023-2024 (6).
She finished fifth in the Downhill standings last season, achieving two podium finishes in World Cup Downhill events: a second place in Crans Montana in February and a third place in St. Moritz in December.
Brignone's best result in 23 World Cup races and five World Championships races in Cortina was 4th in a World Cup Super-G race in January 2022. She only has five Top-10 results in those 28 races.
She is second with 129 points in the Downhill standings.
Ester Ledecka was sixth in Beaver Creek last month, her best World Cup Downhill result in almost three years. She was third in the last Downhill in St. Anton and can make back-to-back World Cup Downhill podiums for the second time, and the first time since she made three in a row in January and February 2022.
Two years after winning her last World Cup race, Ledecka returned to the top of the podium in the last Super-G of the 2023-2024 season held in Saalbach. The Super-G Olympic champion celebrated her fourth Alpine Ski World Cup victory.
Ledecka is third with 100 points in the Downhill standings.
Lara Gut-Behrami has 13 wins, tying her with Marie-Theres Nadig for eighth place in most World Cup Downhill victories among women. Swiss skier Maria Walliser ranks seventh with 14 wins. She can win her 46th World Cup race across all disciplines to equal Renate Goetschl for fifth on the all-time women's list.
Switzerland, with 99 victories to date, can become the second country to achieve 100 wins in Women's Alpine Ski World Cup Downhill events, following Austria, which leads with 124 victories.
Gut-Behrami can win her 5th World Cup race in all disciplines in Cortina to make it her most successful venue. She has also won four times in Crans Montana, Switzerland, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Including her two World Championship triumphs in Super-G and Giant Slalom in Cortina in 2021, Gut-Behrami has won six major races in the Italian resort.
Sofia Goggia, a four-time winner of the Downhill Crystal Globe, finished third in the discipline standings last season. Unfortunately, she suffered an injury at the end of the competition, specifically a fracture of the tibia and tibial malleolus in her right leg. As a result, she missed the last three Downhill races in Crans Montana, and Saalbach. This injury occurred during a giant slalom training session in Ponte di Legno in February 2024.
The 32-year-old can extend her record as the oldest Downhill champion in the Alpine Ski World Cup.
Goggia has an extraordinary recent record: in her past 29 World Cup Downhills dating back to December 2020, Goggia has won 14 times and finished on the podium nine times. She has missed the podium just six times in the past 29 Downhill races over more than four years.
Swiss young talent Malorie Blanc finished in second position just 0.07 seconds behind Brignone in St. Anton. With bib 46 the Super-G Junior World Champion delivered an outstanding performance to achieve her first podium in her second race in the World Cup. Remarkably, the 21-year-old reached the podium in her first Downhill race only a month after her World Cup debut in St. Moritz. Her result today is even greater when you consider that she tore her cruciate ligament in February, shortly after winning gold in the Super-G and silver in the Downhill at the Junior World Championships in Chatel in January 2024.
If Blanc wins on Saturday at age 21 and 12 days, or if she wins any World Cup Downhill race this season, she will achieve her first Downhill victory at a younger age than Gut-Behrami, who won her first Downhill at age 21-231 in 2012.
Lindsey Vonn returned to the Alpine Ski World Cup stage in December, finishing 14th in the Super-G in St Moritz after almost six years of retirement. In St. Anton in the Downhill, Lindsey Vonn put in an unexpectedly strong performance in her second race, finishing sixth.
The next day, in the Super-G, she gets closer to her first podium finish since her comeback. With starting number 31, put in another furious performance and finished 4th, 1.24 seconds behind the winner Lauren Macuga.
The 40-year-old US skier has achieved a remarkable 20 Alpine Ski World Cup podiums in Cortina d'Ampezzo, including 12 victories. The Italian ski resort holds a special place in her heart as it was there that she claimed her first World Cup podium in 2004. Vonn will be looking to return to the podium next weekend in Italy.
22-year-old US rising star Lauren Macuga finished in 4th place in the first Downhill of the season in Beaver Creek.
Stephanie Venier finished in fourth place in the Downhill standings last season. On January 26, 2024, she won the Downhill held in Cortina d'Ampezzo. For the 30-year-old Austrian skier from Tirol, it was her second World Cup victory, the first in almost five years, since she won the Downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on January 27, 2019.
Update 01.16.2025: Federica Brignone set the fastest time in the first Downhill training session ahead of Sofia Goggia (+0.05 seconds), with Nadia Delago in third place (+0.65). Lara Gut-Behrami (33) finished in sixth place, nine-tenths behind Brignone's time.
Lindsey Vonn, on the other hand, fell for the first time since her comeback. The US Ace crashed shortly before the finish. However, she was able to ski to the finish apparently uninjured.
Update 01.17.2025: Sofia Goggia set the fastest time in the second Downhill training. Federica Brignone finished in second place 0.68 seconds behind her teammate. Lara Gut-Behrami was third 0.69 seconds behind Goggia.
Lindsey Vonn finished 40th, 3.39 seconds off the pace.
Comments