Goggia in a class of her own in St. Anton downhill

It was the Sofia Goggia show at today’s Audi FIS women’s downhill World Cup race in St. Anton (AUT) as the Italian put on a performance that will not soon be forgotten.

Coming down with bib #5, Goggia attacked the course and left no doubt that her time of 1:24:06 would withstand anyone’s chance to take the victory.

“Today, I knew I had to attack the course, and especially on the lower half, I could feel I was fast,” said Goggia after the race. “Although I felt good on the lower half of the course, I wasn’t entirely sure until I saw my time and then I thought to myself, ‘today I am unbeatable’.”

Goggia’s inner thoughts proved to be correct. As the race wore on, the biggest question became who would earn the other two podium places up for grabs.

The answer came in the form of two surprises with Austrian Tamara Tippler taking second place as the only racer who managed to close the gap to Goggia to less than a second, ending 0.96 behind. American Breezy Johnson claimed third place1.10 seconds off the pace. The fastest skier in yesterday’s training, Ester Ledecka finished just shy of the podium in fourth place 1.16 behind.

The second-place finish for Tippler was her first career World Cup downhill podium and came after she turned in the fastest time in the first training earlier this week.

For Breezy Johnson, it was her third, third-place downhill finish of the season and her third podium of her entire career. Johnson took third place at both downhill races in Val d’Isere in December.

The victory for Goggia was her second of the season and her third podium this year. She now sits alone atop the standings for the downhill globe and is now in third place in the overall World Cup hunt.

Conditions were excellent today in St. Anton with blue skies and freezing temperatures greeting the racers this morning, creating ideal snow. It was the first time in eight years that St. Anton had hosted a World Cup race after having to cancel the races the last two times they were up in the rotation to host due to bad weather conditions.

The Austrian resort will host its second race tomorrow when the super-G takes center stage.