Podium surprises in Crans Montana

Today’s podium was full of suprises at the Audi FIS Women’s World Cup downhill race in Crans Montana (SUI)

Ester Ledecka (CZE) earned just her second career downhill victory after a blazing run. She finished just 0.21 seconds ahead of Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR) who was elated to earn her first career downhill World Cup podium.

Rounding out the top-three was Cornelia Huetter, who picked up after the Olympic break right where she left off in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, earning the third-place finish 0.42 seconds behind.

Crans Montana offered up a perfect day for the racers to return to World Cup action with blue skies and crisp temperatures creating ideal course conditions. But the fatigue factor from the return trip home from Beijing may have played a role for many of the favorites, as nearly every medalist from the Olympics was well out of podium range today.

Nevertheless, it opened up the opportunity for new faces to shine in the downhill as it was the first women’s downhill that didn’t feature a Swiss or Italian winner in the last 15 World Cup outings.

The podium did little to shake up the downhill or overall World Cup standings. Sofia Goggia still is in pole position for the downhill globe, although she lost a little ground to Corinne Suter. Meanwhile, while Mikaela Shiffrin holds a slim 15-point lead over Peter Vlhova for the overall title.

Tomorrow looks to be another perfect day in Crans Montana and a key chance for the field to challenge Goggia for the small globe with the last downhill race before the Finals in Courchevel-Meribel (FRA).