Victorious in the last downhill of last season, the Austrian Cornelia Hütter did it again in the first race of the specialty by winning on Saturday in Beaver Creek (Colorado), depriving the Italian Sofia Goggia of a victory upon her return from injury.
Under the sun « Birds of Prey »a new track on the women’s circuit, Hütter set off with bib 11 and unrolled his ski to steal, by 16 hundredths, first place from Goggia who had started four skiers earlier.
“I didn’t have very good feelings during training. But today I was more comfortable, especially in the tricky corners, and I was able to keep speed”commented Cornelia Hütter upon arrival.
At 32, the Austrian won her seventh World Cup victory in Colorado and confirms that she will be a serious candidate for her own succession in the race for the crystal globe of downhill.
But this time she will have to count on fierce competition from Sofia Goggia, four-time winner of the specialty globe (2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023). Victim of a double tibia-malleolus fracture in early February during training, the 32-year-old skier was unable to ski for many months and made her return to competition on Saturday.
However, it didn’t take long for her to find her feet again to secure her 55th World Cup podium. “I had a good race, not a great race”tempered the Italian with her federation.
“It’s as if I had skied at 80% of my potential. This remains a very good result, I would have signed for a second place yesterday, but I am upset to have dropped 16/100th”she added, while already planning on the super-G which will be contested on Sunday in Beaver Creek.
The Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami completes the podium, 34 hundredths off the lead: a good result after a difficult start to the season. The winner of the big crystal globe of the World Cup last season had disappointing performances in giant slalom in Solden (disqualified) and Killington (13th).
Found and open
Sofia Goggia at Beaver Creek on December 14, 2024 / Sean M. Haffey / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
On the French side, Romane Miradoli, who started with bib 30, finished in 19th place, 1 second and 63 hundredths behind Hütter, ahead of Laura Gauché (28th, +2 sec 37/100th), Camille Cerutti (33rd, +2 sec 63/100th) and Karen Clement (36th, +2 sec 70/100th).
After announcing on Friday that she would return to the world circuit from the stage in Saint-Moritz (Switzerland) on December 21 and 22, Lindsey Vonn went down the « Birds of Prey » as an opener on Saturday, in front of an American audience won over to her cause.
The American ski legend is preparing to return to the World Cup at age 40, almost six years after retiring during the World Cups in Are (Sweden) in February 2019.
“I feel stronger now than in my twenties, and my passion for skiing has never left me (…) Now that I am physically capable of doing what I love, why not give it a try? »she commented on Friday at a press conference. His adversaries have been warned.
