Sofia Goggia sweeps women's downhill at Lake Louise, holding off Nina Ortlieb
Marie-Michèle Gagnon top Canadian in 25th after 9th-place finish last year
Sofia Goggia of Italy captured a World Cup downhill race for a second straight day at Lake Louise.
Goggia only got stronger throughout the race Saturday, finishing with a time of one minute 28.96 seconds. Goggia withstood a late charge by Austria's Nina Ortlieb, who started way back with bib No. 26 and wound up 0.34 seconds behind. Ortlieb's finish pushed Corinne Suter of Switzerland into third place.
"I skied exactly the way I wanted to in my head," Goggia said. "I was reading well the terrain."
Suter was runner-up to Goggia in Friday's downhill race. This was the third World Cup podium finish for Ortlieb. Her other two were in February 2020 and included a super-G win in Italy.
"I tried to ski with a lot of power, because it's really icy," Ortlieb explained. "I thought, `Take your chance and push.' I think it worked well."
The 30-year-old Goggia is dominating the Lake Louise downhill track in a way not seen since the days of Lindsey Vonn. Goggia has now won four straight World Cup downhills on this course, including two last seasons.
The retired Vonn had a streak of four in a row World Cup downhill wins at Lake Louise from 2011-12. She also had a separate streak of five straight (2006-09).
WATCH | Goggia finishes strong to beat Ortlieb by 0.34 seconds:
Goggia is off to a strong start in her bid to win a third straight World Cup downhill title, and would be the first to do it since Vonn captured six in a row from 2007-08 to 2012-13.
Marie-Michèle Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., clocked 1:31.20 and was 25th of 42 finishers a day after placing 24th .
"My feeling is a bit off right now as you can probably tell watching me go down. It's just not as dialed in as normal," Gagnon told The Canadian Press on Friday.
Trying to work way back on Canadian team
"It's a matter of just trying to find the good balance of attacking, but attacking in the right way."
Stefanie Fleckenstein, who hails from Whistler, B.C., was 37th in 1:32.03, two spots ahead of Friday's performance.
The 25-year-old, an independent athlete running her own program this season to try to work her way back on the national team, earned World Cup starts through her success on the Nor-Am circuit.
The three-time downhill champion had seven podium finishes last season.
Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States skipped the speed races in Lake Louise to squeeze in more training for the tech events.
Sunday's super-G at 1 p.m. ET will be live-streamed on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
WATCH | Goggia golden in Friday's Lake Louise downhill:
With files from CBC Sports
