Switzerland’s Corinne Suter won gold in the women’s downhill event, finishing .16 ahead of defending Olympic champion Sofia Goggia.
Suter finished in a time of 1:31.87, mere minutes after Goggia posted a 1:32.03. Fellow Italian teammate Nadia Delgado finished in third with a time of 1:32.44. It’s the first Olympic medal of Suter’s career.
American Mikaela Shiffrin finished 18th.
The gold continues a run of medals for Swiss skiers at these Olympic Games. With her victory, Switzerland has won four gold medals in eight events, and seven overall. Teammate Lara Gut-Behrami won the women’s super-G.
Swiss alpine skier Corinne Suter takes the #Gold in the women’s #AlpineSkiing downhill event.
— Olympics (@Olympics) February 15, 2022
Congratulations on her first Olympic medal!#Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/qicBiaWrTw
For Goggia, it was a triumphant return after suffering leg injuries in a super-G crash in January that nearly left her out of the Olympics. The Italian partially tore her ACL and fractured her fibula in the crash. She skipped the super-G last Friday and took a pair of training runs over the weekend to help prepare for the downhill.
“After that crash, I don’t think anybody knows the full details of her injury,” Shiffrin told the Washington Post. “But it’s a significant injury. It feels a little bit impossible that she got here.”
“I found an incredible strength inside of myself,” Goggia said afterward. “I was traveling by a sort of light. I’m glad I gave everything to be here today, I’m glad and grateful that I could achieve another medal, and I’m happy with myself.”