Sofia Goggia grits her teeth: on track for downhill in St.Moritz

Double dislocated fracture in left hand doesn’t stop Azzurra athlete

It needed the night to pass, as also suggested by the President of the FISI Medical Commission Andrea Panzeri in Friday evening’s statements, to understand if Sofia Goggia would make it to compete in Saturday’s downhill on the slopes of St.Moritz: doubt dispelled, the Bergamasque will be at the starting gate with bib number 9.

The champion, who had surgery just hours earlier for a double dislocated fracture in her left hand – a ‘tribute’ from the first downhill in the Swiss Alps, where she still finished second behind Elena Curtoni – will race with a protective brace.

Sofia Goggia, class of 1992, was born in Bergamo and has a personal bulletin board that can make anyone envious. In fact, she was a gold medalist in the downhill in the 2018 edition of the Olympics staged in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but she can also boast three downhill World Cups and two medals won at the World Championships: a bronze in the giant slalom in Sankt Moritz in 2017 and a silver, in the super-giant, in Are, Sweden, two years later. Her best finish in the overall World Cup standings is the third place she recorded in 2017.