Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

SKIING

Italy’s Sofia Goggia beats US favourite to win ski world cup

Italy's Sofia Goggia snatched her second straight Women's World Cup downhill on home snow at Cortina d'Ampezzo on Friday as an error left favourite Lindsey Vonn in second.

Published: 19 January 2018 16:35 CET
Italy's Sofia Goggia beats US favourite to win ski world cup
Sofia Goggia of Italy celebrates her first World Cup win at home. Photo: Tiziania Fabi/AFP

Goggia followed her downhill win at Bad Kleinkirchheim in Austria last week winning in 1 minute and 36.45 seconds, a margin of 0.47 seconds ahead of Vonn.

“It's a dream come true,” said the 25-year-old after her fourth World Cup win and first in Italy, which comes weeks ahead of the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

“Lindsey made a mistake, but if she hadn't she would probably have won by a large margin. After my performance I wasn't that happy.”

Vonn, with 11 wins in Cortina and the best time in both training runs this week, had been 0.14 seconds ahead of the Italian on the top half of the Olympia delle Tofane course.

But the 33-year-old American hit a bump and almost went into the netting, before recovering to finish on the podium.

“I still got second place which is outstanding,” said Vonn. “Hopefully I won't get caught in a bump again tomorrow. It's always nice to have a second chance.”

Friday's race was originally scheduled for Val d'Isere, France, last month but was moved because of poor weather conditions.

The second downhill takes place on Saturday with the super-G on Sunday on the slopes in the Italian Dolomites.

Overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin, competing for the first time in the downhill in Cortina, was third, 0.84 seconds behind the winner.

For members

SKIING

Snow report: What’s the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

Good news for skiers in France, as a mild December has given way to a cold blast in early January that's bringing some much-needed snow.

Published: 5 January 2024 14:50 CET
Snow report: What's the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

After a mostly dry and mild December, snow returned to the the Pyrenees on Friday.

Meanwhile most resorts in the Alps have been able to stay open after a promising early start to the ski season, thanks to fresh snowfalls, with more on the way this weekend.

Pyrenees

Snow has returned in the Pyrenees. Some 5cm fell overnight into Friday, January 5th in eastern parts of the mountain range, with forecasts predicting a further 15cm to 20cm to be on the ground 24 hours later. The region had not seen any snow since December 2nd.

In Angles, 20cm of snow had fallen at higher altitudes by mid-morning on Friday.

Further west, numerous resorts in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département remained closed this week after early December snow had melted in mild conditions that have dominated France in recent weeks, but significant snowfall is expected over the weekend into Monday, and resorts are hoping that they will see enough to open.

One resort, Artouste, has been unable to offer skiing since the start of the season on December 23rd due to a lack of snow. A scenic rail service – usually reserved for warmer months – has kept the resort going. It is set to stop running on Friday, amid expectations of enough snow to finally open the slopes.

READ ALSO Climate crisis: ’90 percent’ of Europe’s ski resorts face critical snow shortages

Alps 

Many ski resorts opened on time, or even a little earlier than scheduled last month, after significant early snow fall, and have enjoyed deposits in the first days of 2024. But, even here, resort managers welcomed the promise of more significant snow this weekend.

Some resorts weren’t so fortunate. Ski areas in Gérardmer, in the Vosges, were still closed in the week leading up to Christmas because of poor snow conditions, but they are hoping for enough snow to finally get started this weekend, while La Bresse-Honeck was using ‘stocked snow’ made by using snow that fell earlier in the winter months to stay open as recently as December 30th.

In the Northern Alps, resorts such as Alpe d’Huez benefited from fresh snowfall on December 22nd, while Val d’Isère had new snow on December 29th. In the Southern Alps, Les Orres’ last pre-New Year snow was on December 8th.

And the French Alps have enjoyed more snow since the start of the year. There’s at least 50cm of fresh snow on the higher slopes of Les Gets and Morzine, for example, a significant improvement on the same time last year, when the resorts were among several that had very little snow to speak of.

In Chamonix, meanwhile, snow has fallen on eight of the last 14 days, with more expected every day between Friday and Monday.

Massif Central

As the post on X / Twitter shows, the Massif Central has not had the best of winters for snow so far. But between 30cm and 50cm is expected in Le Lioran by Monday. 

READ ALSO ‘So many barriers since Brexit’: The French ski businesses no longer willing to hire Brits

SHOW COMMENTS