The Women's Alpine Skiing World Cup continues this weekend in Soldeu, Andorra. The first competition of the weekend was a super-G on Saturday.
Career-first Super-G win for Federica Brignone
Due to snowfall and strong wind, the race course had to be shortened, lasting just under a minute, and the start was postponed by three hours.
Two Italians, Elena Fanchini and Sofia Goggia started the race, with Goggia setting the better time of those two. They remained in the first two positions until Federica Brignone with the bib No. 8 beat Goggia's time by 0.44 seconds and gave Italy a 1-2-3 lead.
Goggia and Fanchini were bumped off the podium after the runs of Laurenne Ross with the bib No. 10 and Tamara Tippler with the bib No. 11. The American Ross lost 0.13 seconds to Brignone and the Austrian Tippler lost 0.37 seconds. Starting after Tippler, Johanna Schnarf went into sixth place, as the fourth Italian in the top six.
Although the best skiers were still to start, the snowfall was increasing and the top six saw now changes after Schnarf's run. Federica Brignone achieved her second career win, the first in super-G.
Lindsey Vonn falls and injures herself
Lindsey Vonn of the USA started the top seeded group from the bib No. 16. The dominant speed skier of the women's tour was going below Brignone's lead time before she fell on the final section of the slope. Although the incident didn't look serious, she had to be treated on the slope by the medical crew and was transported off on a rescue sled. She was reported to have hurt her left knee.
Once the race continued, Vonn's overall title rival Lara Gut was the next to start. In the heavy snowfall, the Swiss was unable to fight for top positions but lost 1.15 seconds, finishing the race in 16th position.
The only skier of the top group who achieved a decent result in the tough conditions was Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg. As the best skier after Schnarf's run, Rebensburg finished in seventh place, 0.82 seconds from lead.
USA's Mikaela Shiffrin, who made a victorious injury comeback in the Crans-Montana slalom, made her second World Cup super-G start in Soldeu. She managed to score two World Cup points by finishing in 29th place, 2.31 seconds behind the winner Brignone.
Gut closing on Vonn in the World Cup standings
Lindsey Vonn remains in the overall and super-G World Cup lead after Saturday's race in Soldeu. With the 15 points of the 16th place, Gut reduced the gap to Vonn to only eight points, and there is no information if Vonn is forced to miss races due to the injury. Third in the overall standings, Viktoria Rebensburg, is 301 points behind Vonn, which is a big gap to catch despite her good form during the past month.
In the super-G standings, Vonn's lead over Gut is 64 points while the third-placed Tina Weirather is 134 points behind. With two races remaining, Vonn can't afford missing them as Gut could overtake her in one race. On the other hand, if Vonn could continue racing, she could secure the title already in the penultimate race.
The women's World Cup weekend in Soldeu continues on Sunday with alpine combined of super-G and slalom.