In Cortina d’Ampezzo it is already time to think about the second race (Saturday with start from 10.30 am), but the falls are taking center stage with the American who, pending official communications, should have “only” strained the medial collateral of her left knee . Tomorrow Gisin and Aicher will not be there either, as well as Suter, seven of the Italians (without Melesi) with Goggia who will start with 14 after Brignone (with 9). Gut-Behrami will open the big group.
The fifth seasonal descent, the second in a row on the Olympia delle Tofane, after what happened today with a particular “race-1”, very tough and bitter even for many athletes.
Let’s start with the latest news arriving from Cortina and concerning, while waiting to understand the conditions of Corinne Suter, who will not be at the start of the second downhill tomorrow, Mikaela Shiffrin: naturally the American will not be at the gate, but the indications are quite reassuring on the conditions of his left knee, hit in today’s very bad fall.
Having already initially ruled out damage to the cruciate, for Mikaela there could be a strain to the medial collateral, as the ORF had already indicated in the afternoon, with Patrick Riml (waiting for official communications from the US federation) hypothesizing a couple of weeks in the pits for the CdM leader.
Naturally the games reopen for the general, but that’s another story.
At 10.30 am on Saturday (live TV on Eurosport 2 and Rai 2) the start of the encore descent, therefore, also without Emma Aicher and Michelle Gisin among others (both suffered a rather hard blow falling at the Delta curve), but also Roberta Melesi will not be in the match, with the Lecco native aiming directly for the super-g on Sunday.
Ester Ledecka, who didn’t start this morning due to the after-effects of a flu condition, will have the number 1 and should be at the gate before Laura Pirovano, who drew the 2nd again and will try to do even better than today’s great 6th.
Wright and then Gauche will precede Kajsa Vickhoff Lie, who made some mistakes today with 1 but still demonstrated that she can fight for the podium spot. Second in race 1, Lara Gut-Behrami will have the number 6 and, considering the absence of Shiffrin and the gap of the Ticino rider now 340 points from the top occupied by the American, it is clear that the next three races, including the Kronplatz giant, could definitely change the situation.
Flury will have the no. 7, Huetter (a bit clumsy today) the 8 before Federica Brignone, who also came out at Delta and is eager for redemption with her no. 9. Weidle, Puchner and today’s winner, Stephanie Venier, will follow her with 12.
Then Stuhec, very far away in the first event on the track that saw her return to winning a year ago, and Sofia Goggia with 14th for the assault on Kostner’s Italian record with poker downhill here. If the girl from Bergamo has a better feeling thanks also to the 3rd place which, if not in terms of absolute performance, is certainly good as a result, then she will be able to aim for the third seal of the season.
Haehlen and Nufer will be the Swiss at the gate after Sofia, then Christina Ager (today third, first podium in the cup) with 17 will precede Nicol Delago (18), who wants to redeem herself like Mowinckel (20). Bassino, excellent 11th in race 1, will start with 21st and then there will be Valérie Grenier, who forcefully entered the thirty with the super podium in the first downhill.
Nadia Delago will be the sixth Italian at the start, with 28, then out of the 45 registered here is Teresa Runggaldier with 42, looking for other points after the 5 collected today.
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WOMEN’S DOWNHILL – CORTINA D’AMPEZZO
Startlist: 1 Ledecka, 2 Pirovano3 Wright, 4 Gauche, 5 Lie, 6 Gut-Behrami, 7 Flury, 8 Huetter, 9 Brignone10 Weidle, 11 Puchner, 12 Venier, 13 Stuhec, 14 Goggia15 Haehlen, 16 Nufer, 17 Ager, 18 Nicol Delago19 Raedler, 20 Mowinckel, 21 Bassino, 28 Nadia Delago, 42 Rungaldier.