“I dedicate silver to myself because I’ve driven and I have that willpower.” The Italian ski racer Sofia Goggia has rewarded herself for her lightning comeback after a partial cruciate ligament tear in her left knee, a small fracture in her fibula and a sprained ankle and only had to give way to the reigning world champion in this discipline in the Olympic downhill from Yanqing.
Corinne Suter drove a lead of 16 hundredths and the fourth alpine gold for Team Suisse – after Beat Feuz (downhill), Lara Gut-Behrami (Super-G) and Marco Odermatt (giant slalom) – out. “For me, my biggest dream is coming true, I’m speechless,” said the 27-year-old winner in amazement. Bronze went to Nadia Delgado (Ita), bronze to Kira Weidle. The German shared the sporting destiny with her teammate Lena Dürr, who also finished fourth in the slalom after half-time.
Austria’s quartet had nothing to do with the decision. Conny Hütter was seventh and 77 hundredths off a medal, Mirjam Puchner, who finished the Super-G with a brilliant second, was eighth, Ramona Siebenhofer twelfth, Tamara Tippler 19th.
“It already ticks me off”
“Of course, we would have hoped for more as a team. It’s a blow to me that I didn’t achieve what I had imagined,” said Hütter after a turbulent race that started half an hour late due to poor visibility and the influence of the wind was. But that’s not all. A bad fall for French Camille Cerutti resulted in a long suspension. “It’s extremely difficult for me in such conditions, I have to find a way to get going better,” said Puchner. “One and a half seconds is too much, you don’t need to look for excuses.”
Everyone took off their hats to Goggia, who fell badly in the Super-G in Cortina on January 23 and even went on crutches for three weeks afterwards. “I had a lot of pain in my knee. But the belief that I would start here in China was always there – even on my darkest days,” reported the 29-year-old.
Goggia was driven by her ambition – so much so that in the end she was disappointed that she didn’t make it for gold. “Queen Sofia” was eager to successfully defend her Pyeongchang 2018 downhill title. She did everything for that – even on the piste with a highly risky ride.
Source: Nachrichten
