First World Cup win for Nina Ortlieb
Feb 29, 2020·Alpine Skiing
The races in La Thuile are back on the women's calendar after four years of absence, it was not the luckiest weekend given the general situation due to the Coronavirus, but despite everything, the first race of the weekend took place in the Valle d'Aosta region, which is outside the Northern Italian areas affected by disease outbreak. However, only a limited number of spectators were allowed at the race, and nothing stopped them to cheer their favourite athletes.
The most awaited skier was certainly Federica Brignone (ITA), who was racing on her home track and couldn't wait to win in front of her fans, but, a mere one-hundredth of a second separates her from the top step of the podium where for the first time stand Nina Ortlieb (AUT).
The win for Ortlieb, daughter of 1992 Olympic downhill champion Patrick Ortlieb, came one week after she earned her first podium result, finishing third in a downhill in Crans Montana.
Corinne Suter (SUI) lost control of her right pole halfway through her run and crossed the finish line in third behind Brignone. The Swiss skier remained in the lead of the discipline standings, 19 points ahead of the Italian, with only the season-ending race in Cortina d'Ampezzo remaining.
Last week Suter wrapped up the season title in downhill, and she could become the first female skier to win both speed titles in the same season since American standout Lindsey Vonn achieved the feat five years ago.
Petra Vlhova (SVK)confirmed her progress in the speed disciplines as the Slovakian skier trailed by 0.39 in fourth.
Brignone extended her lead in the overall standings to 153 points from the absent Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), and the Slovakian Vlhova is 189 points behind Brignone in the overall standings.
The Italian weekend goes on with the last Alpine Combined of the season and the discipline title award.
