Lindsey Vonn in history, young rampant victories and Sofia Goggia’s podiums: the beautiful three days of racing in St. Moritz

The three-day World Cup women’s fast race was exciting. Beautiful races, two downhill runs and a super-G, held in splendid sunshine, without even the shadow of the “Maloja snake” the fog bank that occasionally settles on the slope in the Swiss resort of the Upper Engadine, and three great winners, two youngsters who are clearly on the rise and a long-time veteran, moreover returning, who accomplished one of the greatest feats in the history of alpine skiing. All of this was also topped off by the podiums achieved by Sofia Goggia, two third places in the second downhill and super-G, and a podium close with fourth place in the first downhill.

Max Valle

Lindsey Vonn, the longtime veteran, triumphed in Friday’s first downhill in a way that impressed everyone for two reasons. The first because this victory, her 83rd in the World Cup and 44th in a downhill, she achieved it at 41 years and 55 days old and nearly seven years since the last one. The second was for the gap she trimmed over her rivals: 98 hundredths to Austria&#8217s Magdalena Egger, who won her first podium for the occasion, 1″16 to another Austrian Mirjam Puchner and 1″31 to Goggia. An incredible domination, which swept away all the doubts and misgivings of those who last year urged the U.S. not to return to competitions (she had retired in 2019) so as not to further endanger her injury-plagued physique, particularly her knees.

Inevitably some will have turned up their noses and thought that women&#8217s skiing is very low-level if a 41-year-old athlete wins a World Cup race by giving almost a second to the athlete closest to her. In fact, nothing could be more false, and the two races over the next two days proved it. In Saturday&#8217s second downhill and Sunday&#8217s super-G Lindsey finished second and fourth, respectively, and especially in the second downhill she didn&#8217t pull her best, perhaps because she thought that even going down at 80 percent would be enough for her, given what she had done the day before. Instead, she was beaten by 24 cents by Germany&#8217s Emma Aicher.

22 years old, 19 less than Vonn so, Aicher is an all-around polyvalent, one who can potentially dominate the Circus Rose because in less than a year she has already gone on the podium in three specialties (she lacks only the giant) and won in two, downhill and super-G. Saturday’s podium was completed by Goggia, who was 29 hundredths behind. A podium composed of three athletes all sponsored by Red Bull, and on Sunday the winner of the super-G was another Red Bull athlete, New Zealand’s Alice Robinson, who is 24 years old but compared to Aicher looks like a veteran because she started winning at a very young age, so far known especially as a giant slalom racer but who got the race right in a specialty in which she had two fourth places as her best results.

Robinson beat Frenchwoman Romane Miradoli, one of the most consistent female jets in the Circo Rosa, by 8 hundredths and Goggia by 19, and this time it was her turn to leave her friend-rival Vonn, who had to settle for fourth place at 8 hundredths from third, off the podium. Many had billed the race as a duel between Vonn and the’other U.S. Mikaela Shiffrin, which actually wasn&#8217t there.

The 30-year-old Colorado outfielder, who was returning to speed racing nearly two years after her terrible fall in the downhill in Cortina on Jan. 26, 2024, in fact missed the last gate when she had intermediates who barely placed her in the top 15. Duel postponed then, perhaps to the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, Vonn’s big goal if Shiffrin decides whether to compete in the super-G.

But Italy holds a card like Goggia, who may not be quite at the top right now, as she bungled a lot in all three races in St. Moritz, but in two months she can get there. And then, there&#8217s the great hope, now that she has been named Olympic flag bearer, that Federica Brignone can also be on the track in Cortina…

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