Sofia Goggia channeled legends Lindsey Vonn and Annemarie Moser-Pröll in dominating the first World Cup speed race of the Olympic season.
The Italian won a downhill in Lake Louise, Canada, by 1.47 seconds. In the last 50 years, only Vonn and Moser-Pröll, the two greatest downhillers in history, won a World Cup women’s downhill by a larger margin.
American Breezy Johnson took second, her best World Cup finish and fifth podium in the last year. Austrian Mirjam Puchner was third.
Mikaela Shiffrin was 26th, 3.6 seconds behind, in her first downhill in 22 months, off one day of downhill training in the six months before arriving in Lake Louise and wearing bib 31. She shook her head from side to side in the finish area.
“I have a pretty lofty goal of shooting to race in every event at the Olympics, but I can’t just go into it and do it,” Shiffrin said, according to U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “I’m trying to take these races as not only practice but training.”
Goggia confirmed she’s favored to repeat as Olympic champion, looking to join German Katja Seizinger as the only skiers to win multiple downhill golds.
She missed last season’s world championships after fracturing a bone in her right knee in a crash, but before that won four consecutive World Cup downhills.
Her five straight wins in downhills that she has started is the most since Vonn won six in a row leading up to the 2010 Olympics.
The Lake Louise World Cup continues with a downhill on Saturday and a super-G on Sunday, live on Peacock.
ALPINE WORLD CUP: Full Results | Broadcast Schedule
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