Goggia Wins Third Straight Downhill
In a race that was plagued by heavy overnight snow and wind holds throughout the day, Sofia Goggia won her third consecutive downhill race—a feat that has not been achieved since Lindsey Vonn was on the circuit—over the Czech Republic’s Ester Ledecka.
Goggia is clearly a force to be reckoned with this season as she now has been on the podium in every downhill this season. She leads the current season standings.
Finishing in second place the Ester Ledecka (CZE), who was not far behind Goggia, trailing only by 0-20 seconds. Third place went to the season surprise Breezy Johnson (USA), who was a little more than a half second off the winning pace.
It was a tricky day for the racers and Crans Montana Organisers. Heavy snow overnight forced the race start to be delayed by more than three hours. Once the race was underway, there were plenty of blue skies, but the wind picked up during the race causing further delays.
Ledecka has been a top-10 threat in the speed disciplines the entire season, but today’s second place was her first top-three finish in the downhill this year. The dual parallel snowboarder and alpine speed racer has gotten consistently stronger with each outing.
Breezy Johnson continued he strong run this season, picking up her fourth-straight third-place finish in a World cup downhill. Prior to this season, the American had never earned a podium place, and this season has yet to miss the podium in the downhill.
The speed skier took third place in Crans-Montana, Switzerland—her fourth downhill podium in a row on the FIS World Cup this season. Bella Wright finished in a career-best 20th place.
Breezy’s third-place finish makes it four-for-four third places in downhill races so far this season and made her the fourth American woman to nail four World Cup downhill podiums, joining an elite crew of Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, and Picabo Street. But Breezy is continuing to keep an eye on the higher podium spots and knows she’s not done yet.
“It’s definitely getting funny—funny is the proper adjective for it,” said Breezy. “I’m still really excited about the results and the third places, but I’m definitely eyeing the other positions!”
While she's hungry for better results, Breezy is also thrilled to finally be scoring the results she knew she had within her, especially after battling back from multiple injuries. “It’ll come,” she said. “I just need to be patient. I’ve been patient about not having a podium for four years on the World Cup, so now I just need to be patient about second place and first place.”
In just her second season—and first full season—on the World Cup, 23-year-old speed skier Bella Wright finished 20th, her best World Cup result so far. Rounding out the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team, Laurenne Ross—in just her third race back from injury—was 39th. Jackie Wiles was 44th.
