Beaver Creek (United States) (AFP) – Italy’s Sofia Goggia marked her return from injury with a superb victory in the Super-G at Beaver Creek on Sunday, following up her second place finish in the downhill a day earlier with the 25th World Cup win of her career. The 32-year-old, who finished just 0.16sec behind Austria’s Cornelia Huetter to take second in Saturday’s downhill, produced a blistering run down the demanding Birds of Prey course to win in 1min 03.90sec. Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami was roughly half a second behind in 1:04.38 while Austria’s Ariane Raedler was third in 1:04.45. Saturday’s downhill winner Huetter just missed out on the podium, finishing fourth in 1:04.50.
Goggia’s victory marked a fairytale return for the 2018 Olympic downhill gold medallist following her recovery from injuries sustained during a heavy training fall earlier this year. Goggia was left with multiple fractures in her right leg during a giant slalom training session in Ponte di Legno in February. That season-ending broken leg was the latest in a long line of injuries the Italian has overcome during her career. However, Goggia showed no sign of hesitancy as she swept to victory on Sunday after starting as the 13th racer out of the gate. She was 0.18sec quicker than Gut-Behrami after the first sector and she maintained a healthy advantage through the final three sections to clinch a deserved win.
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“What can I say — I’m really happy,” a delighted Goggia said after her win. “Everyone has asked me how I have made a comeback. ‘You had eight months without skiing, eight months with a plate, your tibia was in a lot of little pieces.’ And I say it’s something I don’t think about — it’s in the past. I’m in a really good physical shape. At the starting gate, normally a person coming back from injury might think about the injury, or still has some fear. But I was just there doing my race. Maybe I’ve had so many injuries I’m used to comebacks.”
Meanwhile, Sunday’s race saw US skiing legend Lindsey Vonn continue her preparations for her return to World Cup racing at St. Moritz next week with a slick outing as a fore-runner. The 40-year-old Vonn confirmed on Friday she will race next week, nearly six years after retiring from the sport.
© 2024 AFP
