The winding course in Bansko, Bulgaria, suited the slalom specialists very well. And that's why this second downhill race turned into a triumph for the Italians, who managed an outstanding team performance with a triple victory.
The first to take the lead was Italian Marta Bassino with bib number four. Mikaela Shiffrin, who had won the Downhill the day before, started the race after the Italian, but had some snow in the middle section and lost a quarter of a second to the Italian.
With bib number 12 Lara Gut-Behrami tried to continue her good times and was fast at the top. However, she did not ski the ideal line in the lower part of the course and lost too much time to be able to achieve a podium finish. Nevertheless, it was a good performance overall.
Eight numbers later, it looked like Federica Brignone might take the lead as the split times lit up green at the top. But like Mikaela Shiffrin, she also struggled with the course and ultimately missed out on the lead by four hundredths.
The Italian one-two already seemed to be perfect when Elena Curtoni, with start number 28, managed a sensational drive and was one tenth faster than Marta Bassino at the finish line, snatching the victory trophy from her teammate.
Best German was Kira Weidle. Her teammate Viktoria Rebensburg lost almost two seconds to the winner and finished the race in 16th place. Petra Vlohva (SVK) was eleventh.
Final ranking at the 2nd women's downhill race in Bansko:
Rank | Driver | Travel time |
---|---|---|
1 | Elena Curtoni | 1:29:31 min. |
2 | Marta Bassino | + 0.10 sec. |
3 | Frederica Brignone | + 0.14 sec. |
4 | Mikaela Shiffrin | + 0.35 sec. |
5 | Breezy Johnson | + 0.47 sec. |
6 | Kira Weidle | + 0.62 sec. |
7 | Elisabeth Reisinger | + 0.65 sec. |
8 | Nina Ortlieb | + 0.82 sec. |
9 | Corinne Suter | + 1.02 sec. |
10 | Lara Gut-Behrami | + 1.21 sec. |