Cortina: Vonn stakes her claim on victory

The American athlete is the fastest again in the second training run on Olympia delle Tofane.

Goggia: "I'm out to catch Lindsey".

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Date:	18/01/2018 from 1400
Place:	Cortina d'Ampezzo

 

Lindsey Vonn looks hell-bent on taking back the crown of Queen of Olympia delle Tofane and, after recording the best time in yesterday’s training run, the American champion put on a repeat performance today on the perfectly groomed and sunny slope that was a perfect match for her downhill skiing style. The 33-year-old star from Vail concluded the final training session with a time of 1'36"87, the only athlete to post a run under one minute 37. All eyes will be on her when fans flock to Cortina d'Ampezzo for the rescheduled downhill race which was cancelled last December in Val d'Isère and is the first on the Cortina race roster. 

The number of pretenders to the throne is growing behind Vonn. Starting with Tina Weirather, the solid athlete from Liechtenstein who came in just 96 hundredths behind the leader today. Jacqueline Wiles, the other American athlete, had another brilliant day, taking home a third place finishing 1"25 after her award-winning teammate.

Fourth place went to Sofia Goggia, once again the top Italian, with 1"38 separating her from Vonn but with room for improvement, like all the Italian athletes in the race. Fifth place belonged to the US, thanks to Mikaela Shiffrin who arrived 1"76 off the pace but is dead set on improving in the competition. Lara Gut of Switzerland, last year’s downhill winner, improved on yesterday’s performance, climbing to seventh place today and the Austrian, Anna Veith, moved up to tenth. 

As for the Italian team, as well as Goggia’s fourth place, Johanna Schnarf notched up a great ninth, up there with the top ladies, Federica Brignone was 14th even though she missed a gate, and Verena Stuffer, who knows every inch of the Olympia course, came 17th. 

Friday at 10.15 am the competition begins and it will be interesting to see which of these ladies will be up on the podium in the 29th downhill in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

This is what the top athletes had to say:

Lindsey Vonn: “I’m not the least bit surprised with the margins in this training run. I know I can give 100% on this slope and there’s still some life left in my legs. I love the energy of the Italian athletes: Sofia is an amazing skier and Federica is technically outstanding".

Mikaela Shiffrin: "I've been studying the video a lot and I learn something new every day. The slope is great fun and there are lots of places where you can be aggressive".

Sofia Goggia: "Olympia is my favourite course and Vonn’s too. I made a couple of mistakes today but the real competition is tomorrow. I had a good feeling out there on the slope: I skied well in certain sections, I got things wrong in others, but I know exactly what I’ve got to do. I’m out to catch Lindsey".

Federica Brignone: "I felt better than yesterday because I made a couple of silly mistakes then. Today I sorted a lot of things out but I made a huge mistake before the Schuss again. I promise I won’t miss any gates tomorrow".

Johanna Schnarf: "I felt a lot more relaxed today, I had fun and that’s a good sign. My run wasn’t perfect but I skied well in some sections. I’m going to try and put all the best bits together so tomorrow I’ll be ready".

Results second training here!

 

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Massimiliano Max Vergani, Chief of Media, + 39 334 6522188 
Valentina Comoretto, Press Operations Manager, + 39 339 1298509 
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