No Stopping Goggia in Downhill

Sophia Goggia (ITA) reminded everyone why she is the queen of the downhill.

Goggia navigated a few small errors at the top of her run and gained speed like only she can down the stretch to pace the field in the second downhill race of the weekend at Lake Louise. She has won the previous five races at the Canadian course.

The start of the race course was lowered down the hill due to unsafe wind conditions, which was no problem for Goggia.

The reigning downhill champion clocked in at 1:28.96, 0.34 seconds ahead of Nina Ortlieb (AUT). Goggia’s win gives her 14 career World Cup downhill victories.

Goggia was not pleased with her winning run on Friday but had no such qualms about her race on Saturday.

“Today was a quite perfect run. There was a lot of wind at the start. We had to be focused and committed today. I skied the perfect run I wanted to in my head,” said Goggia.

Goggia will go for the weekend treble with the super-G on Sunday. A feat she accomplished last season.

It would be another Lake Louise memory to add to her long list.

“The last two years were unbelievable for me here. Here I broke my knee in 2013 and in 2016 got my first podium in the speed circuit here. And now winning five in a row is incredible. It is sad we won’t race here again but I think FIS will find a good replacement,” said Goggia.

Behind the expected champion, Ortlieb showed she is here to compete for podiums this season after a lengthy injury absence.

The Austrian finished 0.34 of the leader’s pace for her third career World Cup podium.

“It was a huge relief. The last months were really hard so I felt so good and was super thankful for everyone who helped me come back,” said Ortlieb.

The 26-year-old learned a lot from the first downhill race on Friday.

**“**I knew I had to give everything and push hard. I tried to ski with a lot of power because it is really icy. Yesterday I did one gate not really well because I was slipping too much. Today I thought to take my turns, push, and it worked well,” said Ortlieb.

Corinne Suter (SUI) took third, making the podium once again after finishing second to Goggia in the first downhill this weekend. Suter battled through some conditions on her run.

“It was windy. But I tried my best. Yesterday when I watched the video, I wanted to ski the turns in coach’s corner better and today I did it. The technical part was okay and the other part I have to analyze later. It is difficult to say now,” said Suter.

Suter was a mere 0.03 behind second place Ortlieb.

Her Swiss teammate Joana Haehlen (SUI) finished fourth.

After a great performance for third place in the downhill on Friday, Cornelia Huetter (AUT) was a late scratch and did not start due to concussion-like symptoms.