Sofia Goggia with the handbrake on after Michelle Gisin scare

There is Switzerland’s Johana Hählen at the head of the finishing order of the second time trial ahead of the downhill in St. Moritz, Switzerland, which tomorrow will open the fast track season in the Women’s World Cup. Starting with bib 56, the hostess stopped the stopwatch on 1’32″70, doing 13 hundredths better than Ester Ledecka, until that moment leader on Corviglia. And just behind them were Sofia Goggia and Laura Pirovano, both able to confirm good sensations in a training session characterized by flat visibility and a lungostop for the nasty fall in which Michelle Gisin fell, who ended up in the nets in the final stretch of the course and was transported by helicopter to the hospital for checks on a knee. The Bergamasque and the woman from Trentino paid 21 and 22 hundredths of a second, respectively, from Hählen: both at ease on the Swiss track, especially in the more technical middle section.

Andrea Gussoni

Order of finish in any case very short, with as many as 8 athletes within 27 hundredths of each other: Aicher (with a goal jump), Johnson, Weidle-Winkelmann and Gauche close in the wake of the two azure women, while Lindsey Vonn had to interrupt her own descent because of Gisin’s fall, restarting from two-thirds of the way down once the slope reopened. A gap of 1″29 then for Sara Allemand, followed by Nicol Delago (+1″50), Elena Curtoni (+1″83), Roberta Melesi (+1″97), Vicky Bernardi (+2″19), Nadia Delago (+2″29, with a goal jump), Sara Thaler (+3″15), Carlotta De Leonardis (+4″08) and Asja Zenere (+4″29).

“I didn’t ski well today,” Sofia Goggia confided to the parterre, “I had some imperfections: the visibility conditions were difficult and I didn’t feel like pushing too hard. In some situations I didn’t hold the line I had in mind, but I could see very little on the terrain. The track has a lot of waves, movements: in the afternoon I will do video analysis and tomorrow we will see. I know I was in control.” Similar concepts for Laura Pirovano: “It was quite a difficult test because of the visibility, very flat. Hopefully it will be better in the coming days. In these conditions you have to pay attention to everything and that requires a lot more energy. That’s also why I’m a little surprised to see myself at this point in the standings.”

The sextets are ready for the Val d’Isère giant slalom and slalom to be held next Dec. 13 and 14, in the French resort. The technical staff led by dt Max Carca and slalom manager Mauro Pini defined the lineups on Thursday, thanks to a selection made only for the slalom. They will take the start in Saturday’s giant slalom: Alex Vinatzer, Luca De Aliprandini, Giovanni Borsotti, Filippo Della Vite, Tobias Kastlunger and Simon Talacci. While in Sunday’s slalom, the following will be at the start for Italy: Alex Vinatzer, Tobias Kastlunger, Tommaso Sala, Matteo Canins, Simon Maurberger and Tommaso Saccardi. The program will kick off with the first run of Saturday’s giant slalom, start at 9:30 a.m., while the second run will start at 1 p.m. Same times for Sunday’s slalom, with the first run at 9:30 a.m. and the second at 1 p.m. It will be possible to watch the races on Rai Due and Eurosport.