LILLEHAMMER, Norway, March 22 : Italy’s Sofia Goggia secured her first Alpine skiing World Cup super-G Crystal Globe after winning the final women’s speed race of the season on Sunday as U.S. great Mikaela Shiffrin stayed top in the tight battle for the overall title.
Switzerland’s Corinne Suter was second, 0.32 slower, in the race in Kvitfjell, Norway, with Kira Weidle-Winkelmann third.
Germany’s Overall World Cup contender Emma Aicher finished fourth, 0.01 slower than her teammate, to cut Shiffrin’s lead to 45 points with two races remaining – a giant slalom and slalom worth a total 200 points.
Shiffrin, the most successful World Cup skier of all time, has already won her ninth slalom Crystal Globe and is chasing a sixth overall title.
The American failed to score in the super-G after finishing 22nd, with only the top 15 scoring at World Cup finals. She now has 1,286 points to sole rival Aicher’s 1,241.
ROBINSON FINISHED ONLY 16TH
Goggia had started the day eighth and 63 points clear of New Zealander Alice Robinson, who left the start hut with bib number 11 and already knowing her chances of overhauling the Italian had all but gone.
Robinson then narrowly avoided missing a gate and finished 2.41 seconds slower than Goggia, ultimately finishing 16th and 163 points behind.
Goggia, the 2018 downhill Olympic champion, has now won five career Crystal Globes – the others all in downhill.
Lifting the globe aloft, she then placed it on the ground and laid down to kiss the snow.
“If you want to be a complete speed skier, you have to get both the globes in Downhill and super-G, and today I finally did it and I can say I’m a little bit more complete,” said Goggia.
Robinson said finishing as runner-up in the standings was still a big step up from 17th last year.
“For sure I’ve still got some areas I still need to work on to be a fully rounded super-G skier. There’s a lot to be proud of but still a lot to do,” she said.
Goggia’s 29th World Cup win, and 10th in super-G, continued a triumphant weekend for Italy with Laura Pirovano winning Saturday’s downhill to take that globe while Dominik Paris was the men’s race winner.
Paris, 36, made it four out of four for Italy by also winning Sunday’s super-G, ahead of Austrians Vincent Kriechmayr and Raphael Haaser, to complete his personal double.
The two Austrians finished second and third in the discipline standings behind Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, who was only 19th equal in the race but had already clinched both speed globes as well as the overall one.
The final women’s slalom of the season is on Tuesday with the giant slalom on Wednesday.
The men have a giant slalom on Tuesday and end the season with a slalom on Wednesday.
