St Anton (Austria) (AFP)
The Italian Sofia Goggia brilliantly won the descent of St Anton in Austria on Saturday, her sixth success in the discipline in the Alpine Skiing World Cup, the second this season after that of Val-d'Isère.
The 28-year-old skier, Olympic downhill champion in Pyeongchang in 2018, edged Austria's Tamara Tippler 96/100 and American Breezy Johnson by 1 sec 04/100.
Thanks to this victory, which comes on top of three other Super-G successes in her career, Goggia takes the lead on her own in the small crystal globe of the descent.
Timed Saturday at more than 130 km / h, the Bergamasque seems to have donned the costume of the patron of the circuit in the speed events, the one that previously belonged to the American Lindsey Vonn, who retired two years ago.
Her compatriot Laura Pirovano, 23, scored the best result of her young career, in 5th position.
With his second place, Tippler climbed on the podium in downhill for the first time in his career, after five runners-up in Super-G.
For his part, Johnson finished 3rd for the 3rd time this season in downhill after his two podiums at Val-d'Isère in December.
The Slovakian Petra Vhlova, at the top of the general classification of the World Cup, obtained a good result in an event which is not one of her strengths, with a 12th place.
The Swiss Michelle Gisin, her main rival for the big crystal globe, finished in 20th place.
Czech Esther Ledecka, who also shines at the highest level in snowboarding, finished 4th, just off the podium, 1 sec 10/100 from Goggia.
On Sunday, the skiers will take part in the Super-G event in St Anton.
© 2021 AFP