Lake Louise – Sports – Italian Sofia Goggia overcame a broken hand and emergency surgery to record her 20th career World Cup win in St Moritz over the downhill course as Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt continued his superb season with two more podiums to boost his FIS World Cup overall lead and Henrik Kristoffersen shone too. Here is all you need to know:
– In the women’s downhill race at St. Moritz on Friday, Goggia came second 0.29s behind compatriot Elena Curtoni with Swiss Corinne Suter third to add 80 more points to her downhill and overall hopes.
– She hit a gate so hard on Friday, though, that she fractured her hand in two places and had to fly by helicopter to Milan for emergency surgery where doctors put a plate and nine screws in her left hand.
– On Saturday, Goggia – with a pole taped to her damaged left hand – earned her third downhill win of the season as her blistering time of 1:28.85 saw her finish 0.43s ahead of Slovenian Ilka Stuhec with German Kira Weidle third as she added another 100 points to her title hopes.
– Goggia, 30, said: “I am super happy with my race. I couldn’t push out of the start gate, but half a second is enough! I have to say a huge thanks to the people who helped me out yesterday from the doctor here to the driver that brought me to Milan and I am really grateful for the help I got.”
– Fifth place in Sunday’s Super G behind American Mikaela Shiffrin, Curtoni and France’s Romane Miradoli means that second-placed Goggia is now 105 points behind Shiffrin in the FIS World Cup overall standings, 162 points ahead of Suter in the downhill standings and fifth in the Super G.
– In the men’s downhill at Val Gardena/Groeden on Thursday, Odermatt finished second 0.11s behind Vincent Kriechmayr for 80 more points in his overall title tilt as Austrian Matthias Mayer rounded out the podium, while Italy’s Dominik Paris finished 40th and German Thomas Dressen 45th.
– The men’s super G race on Friday was cancelled due to bad weather as Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde won the Saturday downhill in Italy from Frenchman Johan Clarey and Italian Mattia Casse with Odermatt in seventh place to bag 36 title points and Paris 42nd.
– On Sunday in Alta Badia, Norwegian Kristoffersen finished just 0.02s behind compatriot Lucas Braathen in the men’s giant slalom at Alta Badia as Odermatt’s impressive second-run charge saw him grab third with Alexis Pinturault of France fourth and Swiss Loïc Meillard 11th.
– After the latest FIS World Cup results, Odermatt now holds a 171-point lead over Kilde in the overall standings and a 75-point lead over Kristoffersen in the giant slalom standings while he is level with Kilde in the super G and lies 89 points behind the Norwegian in the downhill.
