Sofia Goggia confirms her best form in Cortina

The first racers already had problems with the upper part of the course. Switzerland's Michelle Gisin, who started in third place, as well as Federica Brignone, who was on the podium with her teammates Sofia Goggia and Nadia Fanchini just a week earlier in Bad Kleinkirchheim, missed the third gate and was eliminated in a complete surprise.

Nadia Fanchini then started, who also had a difficult start, but then improved in the middle part of the course with her brilliant cornering technique and was able to make up almost a second gap and took the lead in the meantime. In the end she was 0.03 seconds behind Jasmin Flury, who had set a first benchmark time with 1:38.46 min. Nicole Schmidhofer, the young Austrian, started the race with bib number 6, struggling like the riders before. But then she shone in the long curves in the middle section and continuously increased her lead to 1.02 sec. until the 4th intermediate time and also took the lead with the exact same advantage.

The favorites Goggia, Vonn, Gut and Shiffrin decided the victory among themselves
With bib number 7, Sofia Goggia started the race as one of the favorites. She is currently in outstanding form. In the upper part she was still with a minimal lead. In the following, winding middle section, she skied a very direct line at full risk - typical Goggia style. At the third intermediate time she was therefore 0.43 seconds ahead of the Austrian, at the fourth it was already 0.62 seconds and finally she shot through the finish line with a 0.99 second lead to intermediate first place.

Two skiers later, Mikaela Shiffrin was the first serious opponent for Goggia. In the upper intermediate times, the American, who to the surprise of many experts is competing for the podium in all disciplines this season, was almost on the same time as the Italian. She then slowed down in the super-G part of the course and it seemed that she didn't want to risk everything, which is why she lost 0.84 seconds to the leader by the end. Then came Lindsey Vonn with bib number 13. After the strong training times, she convinced her fans and opponents alike. She wanted to show everyone that she is a force to be reckoned with again, especially after the disappointing 27th place she finished a week earlier. She skied well in the upper part and reached the top speed of 135.7 km/h after the "Tofana shot" and had 0.53 sec. advantage at the 2nd intermediate time. This was the Lindsey as she was known before her accident. She seemed to have some trouble with the twisty section of the track and shortly after she had missed a wave and had to do some magic to avoid an accident. This mishap cost time and she lost 0.33 sec. to the rider ahead of her. Due to this mistake she also lacked the necessary speed for the last gliding section of the race, which is why she finished the race in second place, 0.47 sec. behind Goggia, and was therefore visibly dissatisfied. Lara Gut started as the last of the favorites. Right from the start she went deep into the crouch and for a short time also into the lead and was very fast on the track with 132.6 km/h after the "Tofana shot". She tried to drive the middle, curvy part very directly, but was a bit imprecise, which is why she lost more time with every intermediate time. In the end it was "only" enough for fourth place.

The driving style or placings of the following riders raised questions
Tina Weirather seemed to have problems with visibility. She lost more than two seconds to the best and will now hand over the overall lead in downhill to Sofia Goggia.

Anna Veith, who is slowly regaining her old form, was able to keep up well in the upper part of the course and was also well on her way in the super-G section, only 0.66 sec. behind. In the further course, however, she could not hold the line, had to follow up and therefore lost speed and time. It will take a while until she can compete for the victory again.

With starting positions 23, 24 and 25, three more Swiss women tried their luck. Johanna Haehlen skied too cautiously in the middle section and therefore lost the connection to the front ranks. Corinne Suter's skiing made an uncertain impression and Priska Nufer, who was still able to keep up well at the top, had to use the edges hard in the middle section in order to be able to master the super-G section. For all three of them, Olympic qualification was probably also a factor.

Germany's Kira Weidle, who started the race in 27th place, drove a strong race and delivered a good result with 9th place.

A sensation was caused by the former top racer Julia Mancuso, who took part in an FIS race for the last time. Waving to the spectators, she skied her farewell race leisurely to the finish, which also explains the gap of over 18 seconds to the winner.