‘Sport never stops surprising us’ says Goggia ahead of historic women’s speed season starter

Beaver Creek’s iconic Birds of Prey course feels like the perfect place to kickstart a women’s Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup speed season that is full to the brim with suspense and storylines.

From returning greats to new champions via rising stars, the stage is set and the fact it all begins this weekend (with a downhill on 14 December and a Super G a day later) down a track the best have long dreamt of competing on only adds to the fizzing excitement levels.

Sofia Goggia (ITA) the 2018 Olympic and four-time World Cup downhill champion, neatly summed up the prevailing mood in Beaver Creek, USA.

“The slope is new for everyone, I like this kind of challenge.”

Speed queen ready to rule once more

Goggia’s return to centre stage after recovering from breaking her right tibia in February has been happily welcomed by downhill fans worldwide. Not that the skier herself, who has won 14 World Cup downhills in the past four seasons, feels the Tour missed her too much.

“I loved watching that race,” Goggia said of the final downhill of 2023/24 when Conny Hütter (AUT) brilliantly overcame a deficit of 72 points to snatch the Crystal Globe out of Swiss star Lara Gut-Behrami’s hands.

“Sport never stops surprising us. It was a final (result) not guaranteed and I am really happy with a Hütter Globe.”

That result broke Goggia’s run of three successive downhill Crystal Globes and leaves the field wide open. The 32-year-old is, perhaps to no one’s surprise, quietly confident she can step in once more.

Hütter keen to channel her inner Biles

Hütter’s ability to produce her best when it mattered most, combined with a new-found consistency – the Austrian had five other top-10 downhill finishes last season including two podiums – suggests Goggia, and the rest, will have to be at their best if they want to stop her going back-to-back.

The Austrian finished off her pre-season training with a long stint in Copper Mountain, Colorado and the signs are good.

“My body, my mindset everything is a big puzzle and every piece has to fit in,” Hütter explained. “I have been finding my speed, my line, my position.”

The defending champion also has a new hero to focus on after a fruitful summer discovery.

“I tried gymnastics, I was really bad at it so I had to work a lot on my mindset which was really good,” Hütter said, laughing. “I competed a few time and I became a big fan of Simone Biles (the USA’s 11-time Artistic Gymnastic Olympic champion). She is a role model for me.”

Veteran stars still shining bright

Gut-Behrami knows just what it is like to be a sportswoman everyone is looking up to. Hütter’s stunning final-day exploits were the only thing that stopped the 33-year-old from claiming four Globes last season.

After pulling out the first giant slalom in October and then ending 13^th in her second GS last month, Gut-Behrami will no doubt be keen to jump-start 2024/25 with a strong showing in Beaver Creek.

It is a place she has good, if distant memories. Back in 2013, the reigning overall, Super G and GS champion won back-to-back Super G and downhill World Cups in the Colorado resort. While neither were run down the Birds of Prey course, Gut-Behrami will be fancied to challenge once more.

The Super G may be the Swiss skier’s more likely avenue to swift success. She has dominated this discipline recently, claiming three of the past four Crystal Globe titles. A level of consistency that has enabled her to narrowly get the better of another veteran superstar, Federica Brignone (ITA).

Not that the Italian has been inconsistent herself, finishing runner-up in the standings for the fourth time in the past five seasons. Two more Super G wins in 2023/24 helped take her overall World Cup tally to 28, four clear of Goggia in their on-going battle to be crowned Italy’s most successful female skier.

Challengers gather

If that is another fascinating battle-within-a-battle to keep an eye on, so too is Stephanie Venier’s (AUT) quest to break into the Crystal Globe’s top-three. The Austrian came so close last season, ending fourth in both speed disciplines.

“It was a really close fight until the end and to be so close is obviously motivating,” Venier said. “Last season was great with two victories (one each in Super G and downhill). After a couple of difficult years, I was happy that the last World Cup winter was consistent again. The right feeling was back, as well as the ease and confidence. It would be nice to get that back this season.”

Other names to watch across both disciplines include the ever-exciting Ester Ledecka (CZE). The 2018 Olympic Super G champion starts in Beaver Creek having won the most recent World Cup Super G, triumphing in Saalbach (AUT) in March. A race in which 26-year-old Kajsa Vickhoff Lie (NOR) came third.

While the injured Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) was never planning to race downhill this season, she will be missed in the Super G on Sunday, where perhaps the exciting 22-year-old Lauren Macuga (USA) – three top-10 World Cup finishes last season – will lead the home charge.

Do not miss it. The women’s speed season will be quite a ride.