Brignone wins Garmisch downhill, Vonn out of luck

By AFP
January 26, 2025
Italy's Federica Brignone celebrates on the podium after winning the Women's Downhill in FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on January 25, 2025. — Reuters

Germany: Italian Federica Brignone won the women´s World Cup downhill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Saturday with comeback queen Lindsey Vonn failing to finish.

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Brignone defeated her fellow Italian Sofia Goggia, who suffered a dislocated shoulder during her run, by just one hundredths of a second.

The veteran Brignone, who celebrated the first downhill victory of her career last week, finished in one minute and 35.83 seconds to narrowly deny Goggia. Switzerland´s Corinne Suter finished 0.19 seconds back in third.

The race was overshadowed by Nina Ortlieb´s horrific high speed crash, with the Austrian screaming in pain before being helicoptered off the course. The Austrian Ski Federation later announced: “Unfortunately suspicions of a serious injury are confirmed with the x-ray test detecting a lower right leg fracture”.

Brignone, who finished third behind Goggia in the downhill at Cortina d´Ampezzo last Saturday, overcame slow times in training this week to triumph in Germany.

“I tried everything and did well today. In training I didn´t do each split well, but today I put the pieces of the puzzle together,” she told Germany´s ZDF network. “I didn´t think I´d be in first today. There´s no secret recipe. I´ve trained a lot with my brother in these conditions, on the long curves. It´s five years of training and I´m very happy.”

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