On Saturday (start at 11.00) the great challenge on the Olympia delle Tofane, after the Azzurri domination in practice: Sofia looking to recover in the specialty rankings and poker in “her” temple, Brignone will wear the number 8 after Curtoni (6 )-Huetter (7) and before Bassino, Gut-Behrami, Pirovano and Venier. Lindsey Vonn, not 100% after yesterday’s fall, with 31: ten Italians in the race.
A highly anticipated challenge, the first of two scheduled on the Olympia delle Tofane.
On Saturday in Cortina, here is the third downhill of the World Cup season: start scheduled for 11.00, with live TV on Eurosport 2/Discovery+ and Rai 2, with the weather expected to be perfect again as for the test days that they saw the “Pink Avalanche” up there.
First and second time again for Sofia Goggia and Federica Brignone, with the order reversed with the Bergamo girl dominant today: considering the feeling with this slope and the desire for redemption after what happened in St. Anton, the Olympian is the clear favorite for the first seasonal success in the queen discipline, although Sofia will have to know how to contain her energy to sign poker after the triumphs of 2018, 2022 and 2023.
He caught bib no. 15, the last of the first group (but with a perfect slope, there is no risk of even a minimal deterioration of the snow cover), a Goggia which will see Jacqueline Wiles open the contest, first of a loose cannon like Kajsa Vickhoff Lie, who was only partially hidden in testing like Ester Ledecka, tomorrow with bib number 4 and in excellent condition.
Suter with 5, probably still in defense on a track that also evokes bad memories on the last occasions, will drop before the top 10 with Elena Curtoni looking for answers from these two races in Ampezzo, she who in 2022 triumphed in the super-g on the Olympia delle Tofane. After the Valtellina, n° 7 for Conny Huetter with the red bib, held by just 7 pts on Federica Brignone winner in St. Anton: we need to dispel the taboo of the podium here for a Fede in exceptional form and who will wear the number 8 in the race just before Marta Bassino, returning after the stop due to flu in Austria.
Speaking of red and white colours, the third eagle will be Mirjam Puchner (who cannot be underestimated here, even if she has shown little so far) with number 10, then Stuhec and with number 12 Lara Gut-Behrami, brilliant in training and who must bring home important points with a view to fighting for the general.
-Then Laura Pirovano, 4th in St. Anton on the downhill and ready to play her chances again for that dream called the podium, Stephanie Venier who made a mistake in the first test, but in Cortina she does wonderfully (and won the first one a year ago downhill), and after Goggia it will be the turn of Ortlieb, Weidle-Winkelmann and Nicol Delago (bib number 18) who, after his injury at the end of the summer, still doesn’t have great confidence.
In practice, her sister Nadia seems to have found it again, coming out of the gate 35th, shortly after Lindsey Vonn: the champion from Minnesota, 12 times queen in Cortina, had approached this event in the ideal way, but Thursday’s fall certainly wasn’t ideal given the bruises she sustained, despite having taken to the track today (with ease, finishing the test 3″39 behind Goggia). Given what was demonstrated in St. Anton, it is impossible to remove such a champion from the forecast.
The last three Italians, looking for points, will therefore be Sara Thaler with number 38, Roberta Melesi (number 46) and Vicky Bernardi with number 47 out of the 54 starters.
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WOMEN’S DOWNHILL – CORTINA
Startlist: 1 Wiles, 2 Lie, 3 Ager, 4 Ledecka, 5 C. Suter, 6 Curtoni7 Huetter, 8 Brignone, 9 Bassino10 Puchner, 11 Stuhec, 12 Gut-Behrami, 13 Pirovano14 Friday, 15 Goggia16 Ortlieb, 17 Weidle-Winkelmann, 18 Nicol Delago, 19 Left, 20 Raedler, 35 Nadia Delago, 38 Thaler, 46 Melesi, 47 Bernardi.
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