Cortina d’Ampezzo (Belluno), 21 January 2022 – After setting the best time on the first day, Sofia Goggia is the fastest in the second time-trial of the World Cup downhill in Cortina. On the Olympia of the Tofane, the Italian skier, leader of the Downhill and Super-G Cup ranking and third in the overall ranking, was 41 hundredths ahead of the Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel and 44 hundredths ahead of the Swiss Michelle Gisin. Brilliant performance also for Federica Brignone who, after yesterday’s third place, today recorded the seventh time, 75 hundredths from the first position. As for the other Italian athletes, Elena Curtoni, twelfth, Nicol Delago, fifteenth, and Nadia Delago, eighteenth, all finished in the top twenty.
THE VOICE OF THE AZZURRE– “Today I tried to do well in the section where I missed the door yesterday,” explains Sofia Goggia. “I kept calm and looked for my certainties. The post fall recovery from Zauchensee is going well”.
“Yesterday I did well in the final, today in the top section. Now I have to put all the pieces together, but overall, they were two very good races,” said Federica Brignone, who a week ago achieved her eighteenth World Cup success by winning the super-G in Zauchensee.
“I decided to do the full programme here in Cortina” says Marta Bassino who won the gold medal in the parallel event at the foot of the Tofane last year and who finished 27th and 23rd in the two 2022 Cup races. “I haven’t put on long skis for a while and the first run helped me to regain confidence. The second run was much better and I am happy”.
Nadia Delago from Gardena-Gröden, who set the 25th fastest time on the first day and the 18th fastest time on the second day (she missed one gate), said: ” The race is tomorrow, and I hope to do even better”.
“I really like the slope and I have a lot of fun,” said Elena Curtoni. “The snow this year is harder, tougher, but I am confident. It will be a bit of a gamble with the wind, but we will see. The important thing is to do your best and that’s what I’m going to do”.
MICHELLE GISIN AND THE OTHERS – Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin confirms to feel good after the break without races in Altenmarkt/Zauchensee. “I’m very happy with how I feel now,” said the Swiss, third in the second time trial. “I think they did a fantastic job preparing the track, considering the hot temperatures of the last two weeks. Tomorrow will be an interesting race”.
With her sixth place and a delay of 73 hundredths, Ester Ledecká, the multi-talented champion, shows that she is at home on the slopes of Cortina: “Even though today is only a training run, I feel good, and I am ready for tomorrow,” says the athlete from the Czech Republic.
For Tamara Tippler, who recorded the thirteenth best time today, the goal for tomorrow is the podium. “Today I chose a line that turned a bit more,” said the Austrian, “Tomorrow I want to stay closer to the gates and practice what I know without overdoing it.”
Seventeenth time, with a delay of 1″63, for Kira Weidle. “I still haven’t found the right set up for tomorrow’s race,” said the German. “The snow is different from previous years, so I’m still working on what to do tomorrow, also considering the wind in the upper part of the course, which could be felt at times”.