Swiss skier Suter wins last downhill before Olympics

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN

In the absence of Sofia Goggia, world champion Corinne Suter won the last downhill before the Beijing Olympics.

Suter had a dominate performance on Jan. 29 to finish 0.51 seconds faster than Swiss teammate Jasmine Flury for her first World Cup victory since Dec. 18, 2020. Cornelia Huetter of Austria was third, 0.78 behind.

“Today was a really good run for me. I tried to ski more straight than in training. I skied with my whole heart and I think this is the reason why I was so fast,” Suter said.

Goggia would have been the overwhelming favorite to defend her Olympic downhill title but she was injured during a World Cup super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo last week. The 29-year-old Italian sprained her left knee, partially tore a cruciate ligament and has a “minor fracture” of the fibula, along with some tendon damage.

Goggia has started physical rehab with the aim of returning in time for the Olympic downhill at the Beijing Games on Feb. 15.

She will likely miss the giant slalom on Feb. 7 and the super-G on Feb. 11.

With the Winter Olympics around the corner, several top contenders skipped the races in Garmisch, including overall rivals Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova, and Lara Gut-Behrami _ who had won the downhill in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee. Goggia won the other four downhills this season.

Out of the top 10 skiers in the overall standings, only Federica Brignone and Elena Curtoni raced. They finished 18th and 16th, respectively.

It was only Flury’s second time on the podium, having won a super-G in St. Moritz in 2017.

“(It means) a lot. Also to share it with Corinne, she’s a very good friend of mine and we spoke a lot about how it would be really nice to share one day a podium together . unbelievable,” Flury said.

Suter moved into second spot in the downhill standings although she is still 69 points behind Goggia.