Swiss women conquer Cortina downhill

The Swiss women continued their march through Cortina, earning another two speed medals thanks once again to the work of Corinne Suter and Lara Gut-Behrami.

Today it was Suter’s turn to shine as Thursday’s super-G silver medalist climbed up a positive to claim her first career World Championship gold medal.

Gut-Behrami came down six racers later and looked poised to claim her second gold medal, but she lost time after the last split and ended 0.37 seconds behind Suter, good for third place.

Splitting the two Swiss speed stars was a surprise in second place, German Kira Weidl, 0.20 seconds off the winning pace. It was the first World Championship medal for Weidl, who until today had only made the podium twice in her young World Cup career, two third places, with the last podium coming in 2019.

After tough weather days at the start of the week, Cortina dished up a dream day for the women’s downhillers. Cloudless blue skies and crisp temperatures greeted the field as one of the most scenic downhill courses in the world, had a chance to truly shine for today’s World Championship race.

Thanks to exploits of Gut-Behrami and Suter, Switzerland holds a strong lead in the overall medal count with four total. While the Swiss men were shut out of the medals in Thursday’s Super-G, they have several favorites at the start of tomorrow’s downhill who could help build on the lead.

The men’s downhill will start at 11:00 tomorrow. It will be followed by a very busy Monday with both Alpine Combined races scheduled.