Italian Sofia Goggia, the Olympic downhill champion and top-ranked downhiller this season, will miss the world championships that start next week after fracturing a bone in her right knee in a Sunday crash.
Goggia fell while skiing after Sunday’s World Cup super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, was postponed to Monday due to fog.
She suffered a compound fracture of the lateral tibial plateau, according to the Italian federation, which reported that her recovery timetable beyond worlds will be evaluated over the next few days.
Goggia was due to be perhaps the biggest star of worlds, given they are hosted by Italy in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The 28-year-old won the last four World Cup downhills in her most successful campaign since the 2018 Olympic season.
In her absence, Swiss Corinne Suter and Lara Gut-Behrami and American Breezy Johnson are the top contenders for the world title in the downhill, scheduled for Feb. 13.
Goggia has excelled despite myriad injuries, starting in 2010 when she tore ligaments in both knees in separate incidents and, most recently before Sunday, in February 2020, when she suffered a season-ending broken arm.
Goggia has had four knee surgeries, missed the 2014 Olympics with an ACL tear and sat out the first two months of the 2018-19 season after fracturing her right ankle in a training fall.
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!