Ledecka signed her first victory of the season 21/100 ahead of the Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel and 42/100 ahead of the Austrian Cornelia Hütter.

At 26, Ester Ledecka has accustomed the world of winter sports to the most wonderful surprises, but she continues to pop up where you least expect her.

While she had only had one podium this winter in alpine skiing, she dominated her prestigious competitors under the Valais sun on Saturday.

After his resounding and improbable Olympic double in 2018 (alpine snowboarding and super-G), Ledecka added another gold medal to his record in Beijing this month in alpine snowboarding, failing to take the places of honor in alpine skiing ( 4th in the combined, 5th in the super-G).

"For my last race here I ended up in the net, I'm happy to have finished this time. I'm tired after the Olympics, I didn't have great feelings, but the track is so good that we're 'must have fun there,' she said at the microphone of the International Ski Federation (FIS).

His victory in Switzerland is the 3rd of his career in the World Cup, after the descent of Lake Louise (Canada) in December 2019 and the super-G of Val d'Isère in December 2020, allowing him to continue his series of one win per season.

Interesting stats as she continues to juggle snowboarding and skiing.

Ester Ledecka on the World Cup downhill track in Crans-Montana, February 26, 2022 Fabrice COFFRINI AFP

Goggia 12th, Suter 10th

The expected duel between Olympic champion Corinne Suter, at home, and her Italian runner-up Sofia Goggia did not keep its promises.

Victim of a sprained left knee on January 23 and author of an express and risky return for the Olympics, Goggia only took 12th place of the day, 1 sec 47 behind Ledecka.

Good news for the Italian, Suter did little better (10th), allowing her to keep her hand in the downhill classification with a 65-point lead.

Goggia must still grit her teeth on Sunday for a new descent in Switzerland, then during the finals in Courchevel in three weeks for the last of the winter, if she wants to win a second consecutive small globe.

Behind Ledecka, the Norwegian Mowinckel (29), Olympic downhill vice-champion in 2018, scored the first podium of her career in the World Cup in this specialty.

Best Frenchwoman, Laura Gauché finished 13th at 1 sec 53. Romane Miradoli is 19th.

Absent in Switzerland, the American Mikaela Shiffrin retains the lead in the general classification of the World Cup 15 points ahead of the Slovak Petra Vlhova, 29th in the downhill on Saturday.

© 2022 AFP