Sofia Goggia produced an extraordinary performance on the limit of her skis to claim her „best win ever“ at the Cortina d’Ampezzo downhill on Saturday as Ester Ledecká came third. The Italian 29, came into her home race with five 2021/22 FIS World Cup season victories to her name already thanks to three downhill victories and two Super G wins at Lake Louise and Val d’Isère.

Swiss pair Michelle Gisin and Lara Gut-Behrami managed to record impressive times in difficult weather conditions before Goggia emerged out of the start gate seventh down the mountain. The Bergamo native, though, dug deep from the outset to try and carve a route down the course that was both fast and unorthodox as she kept going green at the splits to finish with a time of 1:06.98.

Austrian Ramona Siebenhofer and Czech star Ledecká both pushed her close, however had to settle for second and third respectively as Goggia recorded her second career downhill victory at the resort.
The win extends her FIS World Cup downhill lead to 136 points over Siebenhofer, while she also leads the Super G standings by five points and moves 197 points behind Mikaela Shiffrin in the overall standings.
Afterwards, a relieved Goggia said: „This is my best win ever. It was really tough. I knew that I have to push as hard as I could because the start, with the first section, is not my best part. I made an incredible run. Attacked the limit. Strange lines, but I am really, really happy.“
The women return to the mountain on Sunday for the Super G race.

Ester Ledecka (CZE) performs during the women’s Alpine Downhill Race for the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup 2021 – 2022 in Zauchensee, Austria Erich Spiess / Red Bull Content Pool