'My heart in my throat': Goggia back on top with emotional Cortina Downhill win

In the Queen of the Dolomites — Cortina d'Ampezzo — the mercurial Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic) showed that she is still the Queen of the Downhill.

Goggia won the Olympic preview on Saturday in the famous Italian resort, skiing in a class of her own to win her 19th World Cup Downhill race ahead of Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (NOR/Head, +0.42s) and Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol, +0.55s).

In winning for the fourth time on the Olimpia delle Tofane course, Goggia showed that she is still the favourite to win the Olympic Downhill gold medal on the same piste in just over a year's time at Milano Cortina 2026.

"For us Italians, it's always a special place in Cortina, and today I felt like I had my heart in my throat," said Goggia, who also won here in 2018, 2022 and 2023.

To combat those emotions, the 2018 Olympic Downhill champion turned her attention inwards at the top of the mountain as the last of the highest seeds to ski with bib No.15.

"I was so focused on myself I didn't want to see anyone at the TV," she revealed. "I didn't know who was leading, who was second, who was third. I just had the strategy in my mind."

On the piste, Goggia was not as wild as she sometimes can be in her all-or-nothing approach, but was still as fast as ever in claiming her first Downhill victory in over a year on a glorious day in the Italian Alps.

After falling behind Vickhoff Lie's pace coming out of the Tofana Schuss, Goggia played her ace in the technical middle section, where she was nearly half a second faster than anyone else in the third sector alone.

The 32-year-old made up more time on the gliding bottom section to finish well ahead of Vickhoff Lie in a time — 1 minute, 33.95 seconds— that no one else threatened.

It was Goggia's 26th World Cup win in all disciplines, drawing her level with Michela Figini (SUI) and Tina Maze (SLO) in equal 16th place on the women's all-time list.

Vickhoff Lie, the second skier out of the start gate, skied flawlessly and in complete harmony with the mountain throughout to claim her first podium position in what has been a difficult season.

"It's been a rollercoaster for me," said the 26-year-old Norwegian, who reached her first Downhill podium in nearly two years.

"I've been struggling a lot with myself and my confidence and equipment. I was skiing really good in the pre-season and when race season started, I just doubted everything.

"Today I just took a choice with my equipment and everything that made me feel really good and I just wanted to go for it. I'm just so happy right now."

Brignone, skiing before Goggia and fresh off her first World Cup Downhill win last weekend, had the green light over Vickhoff Lie at the penultimate intermediate split before losing time on the final sector of the track to miss the lead by 0.13 seconds.

Although Brignone appeared frustrated in the finish area, her time held up to finally deliver the 34-year-old her first podium in Cortina d'Ampezzo in her 29th major race at the famous resort at World Cup and world championship level.

"I'm so proud and so satisfied today," she said. "In Cortina it is my first podium, something that I really wanted in my career and was really looking for."

Among the other big names, Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/Head) finished fourth despite several line errors and a wild flight off one jump, while Conny Hütter (AUT/Head) was slightly off the pace throughout her run and came sixth.

In the fourth race of her comeback, and two days after a crash in training, 12-time Cortina World Cup winner Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head) was in the mix for a top-five finish before a big error in the last sector consigned her to 20th position.

Vonn, Goggia and the other stars of the women's World Cup tour will take a deep breath after a spectacular Downhill race and get ready to tackle the Olimpia delle Tofane again on Sunday in the Super G at 11:00 Central European Time.