Women will gather in St. Moritz (Switzerland) for the second stop of the speed calendar. Two Downhills are scheduled to take place in the Upper Engadine Valley on the World Championship course “Engiadina” on Corviglia.
Of the last 22 Downhill events at the Women's Alpine Ski World Cup, 19 have been won by Italian or Swiss skiers: ten by Sofia Goggia, five by Lara Gut-Behrami, two by Corinne Suter, one by Priska Nufer, and one by Elena Curtoni. The last non-Italian/Swiss women to win a downhill World Cup were Mikaela Shiffrin (Courchevel-Meribel, March 2022), Ester Ledecká (Crans Montana, February 2022) and Viktoria Rebensburg in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on February 8, 2020.
In 2022 Sofia Goggia (ITA) clinched the Downhill Crystal Globe. Goggia previously won the Downhill globe in 2017-2018, and 2020-2021. She is the first woman since Lindsey Vonn (2014-2015 and 2015-2016) to claim the Downhill Crystal Globe in successive seasons.
She joins Vonn (8), Annemarie Moser-Pröll (7), Renate Götschl (5), Katja Seizinger (4) and Michela Figini (4) at the exclusive group of women who has win the Downhill title more than twice.
Sofia Goggia won 10 of the last 14 World Cup Downhill races she participated in, including the first two Downhills of the season held in Lake Louise.
Among Italian skiers, only Dominik Paris (17) has won more World Cup Downhill events than Goggia (14). On the all-time women's list for most World Cup wins in this discipline, Goggia is joint-sixth alongside Maria Walliser (14). Katja Seizinger (16) is in fifth place.
Last season, Goggia won the first three Women's World Cups Downhill Racing, the first two of the season in Lake Louise followed by a victory in Val d'Isère.
2022 will be the first time Goggia race a World Cup downhill event in St. Moritz. She won a Super-G event at this venue, on 14 December 2019.
This winter Corinne Suter could claim her second crystal globe in the Downhill, after winning it in 2019-2020.
Corinne Suter was the only woman to have finished in the top 10 in all World Cup Downhill races last season with the exception of the Finals in Courchevel-Meribel where she finished in discreet 19th place.
Corinne Suter won the Olympic gold medal in the Downhill at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games on 15 February. This World Cup season, she finished on the podium in both women's Downhill events in Lake Louise: second and third.
Lara Gut-Behrami has yet to win the Downhill crystal globe. She has already won the overall globe (2015-2016) and three Super-G globes (2013-2014, 2015-2016, 2020-2021).
Lara Gut-Behrami is level with Marie-Theres Nadig (13) in seventh place on the women's list for most World Cup Downhill wins.
Gut-Behrami (35) is one shy of equalling Katja Seizinger (36) in eighth place on the all-time women's list for most World Cup victories in all disciplines.
Last season Lara Gut-Behrami returned to the top of the podium after her compulsory Corona break to claim her career-second World Cup win in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria. It was her only win and podium in the Downhill.
Gut-Behrami's first victory in the World Cup came in St. Moritz on 20 December 2008, when she won the Super-G at age 17.
The 31-year-old Swiss also won a World Cup downhill event in St. Moritz, on 24 January 2015. She can become the third woman on multiple World Cup Downhill victories in St. Moritz, after Renate Götschl (3) and Annemarie Moser-Pröll (2).
Nina Ortlieb finished second in the second Downhill event in Lake Louise two weeks ago. It was her second podium finish in a World Cup Downhill race after a third place in Crans-Montana in February 2020.
Cornelia Huetter finished in third place in the first Downhill of the season. It was her 17th podium in the World Cup, twelve of them are in the Downhill. The 30-year-old Austrian was on the podium in Lake Louise six times, five in the Downhill, including one win in 2017, and one in the Super-G.
Mirjam Puchner was the winner of the last women's World Cup Downhill held in St. Moritz. On 16 March 2016, she won ahead of Fabienne Suter and Elena Curtoni.
Mirjam Puchner finished on the Downhill podium two times last season. She claimed third place in Lake Louise on 3 December and in Val d'Isère on 18 December.
Both of Mirjam Puchner's World Cup victories came in the Downhill at the World Cup Finals, in St. Moritz in 2016, and in Soldeu in 2019. The last Austrian woman to win a World Cup downhill was Nicole Schmidhofer in Lake Louise on 7 December 2019.
Ragnhild Mowinckel can become the first Norwegian woman to claim a World Cup victory in the Downhill.
Last season she finished in second place in the first of two Downhills held in Crans Montana. Mowinckel finished on the Top 10 in the Downhill four more times last season.
Kira Weidle has claimed four World Cup Downhill podiums, but has yet to win one. The last German woman to win a World Cup event in any discipline is Viktoria Rebensburg, who won the Downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on 8 February 2020.
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