Switzerland’s Corinne Suter wins downhill skiing gold in thrilling finish

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.

Congratulations on her first Olympic medal!#Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/qicBiaWrTw

— Olympics (@Olympics) February 15, 2022

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.”