Lake Louise (Canada) (AFP) - Olympic downhill gold medallist Corinne Suter won the World Cup super-G at Lake Louise on Sunday as Italian speed star Sofia Goggia proved human after all.
Switzerland's Suter, who had settled for second and third in the downhills won by Goggia on Friday and Saturday, clocked 1min 20.75sec -- her time withstanding a fierce challenge from Austrian Cornelia Huetter -- who was runner-up by just two-hundredths of a second.
Norway's Ragnhild Mowinckel was third in 1:20.91.
Suter predicted the tight margins of victory will be common this season.
"You have to go and find your limit," she said."I think this season will be a very, very tight season.There are so many girls who are skiing so fast and can win.You have to push in each race."
After her two podium places this week, Suter said she was feeling good about the super-G even before it started.
"I knew it was a very good course that I liked after inspection," she said."I was thinking it was faster and I just tried to do my best.It was a tight race again, but today I was the lucky one."
Goggia was gunning for a second straight Lake Louise treble, but a ragged start saw her just third-fastest when she finished and she was soon pushed off the podium.
Her time of 1:21.11 left her fifth, 36-hundredths of a second behind Suter.
Despite the disappointment, Goggia moved to second in the overall standings, 20 points behind American Mikaela Shiffrin.
Shiffrin, last season's overall World Cup winner, skipped Lake Louise, preferring to focus on technical training ahead of a giant slalom and slalom in Sestriere next week.
Huetter notched her second podium finish of the week.She finished third in Friday's downhill, but opted out of Saturday's race because of a headache that came with mild vision trouble -- a reminder of the concussion she suffered in a frightening crash at Crans-Montana in February.
"After my concussion in Crans-Montana, I had a few days with my eyes and my brain," she said."I don't know how to describe it, it was like they are not connected.The feeling of my eyes is slow to my brain."
A day off on Saturday was enough to ease the trouble, she said.
"Today I felt much better.Yesterday I had the afternoon and day off.I had a few hours of quiet and not hurried like it is here when we are skiing.I think it was a good decision," Huetter said.
Mowinckel, who won two Olympic silver medals in 2018, continued her return from serious knee injuries that saw her miss all of the 2019-20 season.
"I am super-happy," she said."I am really happy with my skiing.I tried to push it.Coming out of the downhills, I never figured them out and I always think they’re hard.In super-G I have a good feeling and I felt like I did a good job today."
