GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN: Italian Federica Brignone won the women’s World Cup downhill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Saturday with comeback queen Lindsey Vonn failing to finish.
Brignone defeated her fellow Italian Sofia Goggia, who suffered a dislocated shoulder during her run, by just one hundredths of a second.
The veteran Brignone, who celebrated the first downhill victory of her career last week, finished in one minute and 35.83 seconds to narrowly deny Goggia.
Switzerland’s Corinne Suter finished 0.19 seconds back in third.
The race was overshadowed by a serious injury to Austrian Nina Ortlieb, who was helicoptered off the course after crashing out and screaming in pain.
Brignone, who finished third behind Goggia in the downhill at Cortina d’Ampezzo last Saturday, overcame slow times in training this week to triumph in Germany.
Goggia charges to Cortina downhill triumph as Vonn flops
“I tried everything and did well today. In training I didn’t do each split well, but today I put the pieces of the puzzle together,” she told Germany’s ZDF network.
“I didn’t think I’d be in first today. There’s no secret recipe. I’ve trained a lot with my brother in these conditions, on the long curves. It’s five years of training and I’m very happy.”
The 34-year-old credited her “mental strength” for the victory and said she was “ready” for the upcoming World Championships, but was first focused on Sunday’s Super-G.
The 32-year-old Goggia revealed after the race she dislocated her shoulder.
“I wasn’t in the position to push for more speed because of my right shoulder” the 2018 Olympic downhill champion said.
Goggia is returning from injuries sustained from a crash in training in 2024 and said she was not yet back at 100 percent.
“(The shoulder) isn’t very stable. It happens to me all the time when I lose muscle mass.”
Vonn, returning to one of her favourite pistes where she has celebrated nine of her 82 World Cup victories, lost her footing midway through the race and did not finish for the second race in a row after her crash in last Sunday’s super-G at Cortina d’Ampezzo.
After initially impressing on her comeback with fourth and sixth placings in St Anton, Vonn finished 20th in the downhill at Cortina and was unable to add to her tally of five downhill victories in Garmisch.
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