Germany’s best speed skier Kira Weidle clearly missed the hoped-for podium place in the third downhill World Cup of the season.
The 26-year-old from Starnberg couldn’t cope at all with the difficult visibility conditions in St. Moritz and took a sobering 24th place on Friday. The Italian Elena Curtoni won with a lead of 0.29 seconds over her compatriot Sofia Goggia. Olympic champion Corinne Suter (0.73) from Switzerland took third place.
30-year-old Goggia, who won the first two downhill runs of the winter, sustained a double metacarpal fracture in her left hand when she got caught on a gate during the race. According to the Fis World Ski Federation, she should be operated on in Milan on Friday, with the aim of starting on the downhill on Saturday (10:30 a.m.).
Emma Aicher surprised
Emma Aicher achieved 15th place as the best athlete of the German Ski Association. For the 19-year-old technology specialist, the race in St. Moritz was only the third descent of her career. Katrin Hirtl-Stanggassinger from Berchtesgaden collected her first World Cup points in the speed discipline with 27th place.
Fog in Val Gardena
On the other hand, the German speed specialists had to take an involuntary break at the men’s World Cup in Val Gardena, Italy. Due to fog, the Super-G was canceled shortly before the scheduled start. At the same time, the anniversary on the Saslong slope was postponed. Friday’s competition was to be the 100th World Cup race. This should now happen on the downhill this Saturday (2:45 p.m.).
Thomas Dreßen will then not be at the start. The man from Mittenwald suffered a muscle injury in his right rear thigh on Thursday’s downhill run and will not be able to compete in any more races this year.
Fog also caused a handicap in St. Moritz. The launch has been moved down to the Super-G altitude. “Of course the visibility is bad, but I’m still a bit at a loss myself as to where such a huge deficit comes from,” said Weidle on ARD. “The result is unacceptable.” The speed specialist was 2.16 seconds slower than Curtoni, who celebrated her third World Cup victory. At the Saturday downhill she wants to start “with a good portion of anger in her stomach”.
