Ski, because the Crans Montana downhill has been cancelled. Goggia tries again on Sunday – Corriere.it

First the poor visibility, then the increase in temperature which made the runway dangerous: these are the reasons that a Crans Montana led first to progressive postponements of the start and then to the cancellation of the seventh women’s downhill of the World Cup. The program of the races at Mont Lachaux will thus be modified: the downhill will be re-proposed on Sunday 26 February in place of the super-G originally foreseen (a race which will be difficult to recover in the rest of the season, destined to end on 19 March). The organizers will also have to communicate the start time: the scheduled one at 11, but contingent situations could lead to an advance. Moreover, the weather does not seem favorable at all for the well-known Valais resort: a deterioration has been announced which could make it difficult or even impossible to compete. It was certainly a wise choice not to let the athletes start on Saturday the 25th: the snow conditions were too risky. Previously the fog, moving in altitude, had imposed various postponements; after two hours of waiting – only on the occasion of the super-G of the 2013 World Cup was there a longer one: in that case the race ended at around 2 pm, about 4 hours after what had been scheduled – they preferred to postpone.

The downhill always has priority over the super-G, in case you have to choose which race to run e Italy is paying particular attention to this free because Sofia Goggia can take an important step (even decisive if certain conditions are met) towards the conquest of his fourth World Cup of the specialty: the Bergamo native, Olympian in 2018 and Olympic vice-champion in 2022, leads the standings with 420 points, 108 more than Slovenian Ilka Stuhec, 202 compared to Elena Curtoni, 262 compared to the reigning Olympian Corinne Suter (Switzerland) and 297 in reference to the German Kira Weidle. They are the only ones that, with three remaining races, arithmetic still holds in the running in the duel with the Italian; but let’s say that the next descent could already take Suter and Weidle out of the way.

After the disappointment of the fork and the disqualification in the downhill of the recent World Championships, Sofia wants to make up for it and at least take the trophy that would reaffirm that downhill supremacy that has lasted for almost three years. However, in the only race disputed – and won by Stuhec for the record, even if with a goal jump – the blue champion was the victim of a new fall, fortunately without consequences. La Goggia hasn’t properly tested the track, but the real problem, when the start gate finally opens, will be finding the right balance between attacking, not risking more than the right amount and knowing how to manage the situation according precisely to a Coppa del World to win again.