Italy’s Elena Curtoni delivered a surprise victory Sunday, March 8, in Val di Fassa, Italy. capping a dominant weekend for the home team and setting the stage for a dramatic finale in the women’s Super-G Crystal Globe race.
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Curtoni powered down the long and demanding course to secure her first World Cup win since December 2022. Curtoni finished 0.26 seconds ahead of Norway’s Kajsa Vickhoff Lie, while fellow Italian Asja Zenere stunned the field with a career-best third place. Zenere started with bib 33 and finished just 0.01 seconds behind Lie, electrifying the Italian crowd in the Dolomites.
The Super-G in Val di Fassa was everything that makes ski racing so fascinating and delivered entertainment, upsets, and excitement until the very end.
With a big field of strong skiers in Super-G, this season has only seen one skier on top of the podium twice: Sofia Goggia. She currently leads the rankings but New Zealand’s Alice Robinson and Germany’s Emma Aicher are on her heels with one victory and several podiums each. However, none of the three was seen on the podium today.
Robinson tied for fourth with France’s Romane Miradoli, gaining valuable ground in the Super-G standings after Goggia finished ninth, while Emma Aicher recorded a DNF after losing her line. With just one race remaining in the discipline, Goggia now leads Robinson by 63 points heading into the final Super-G of the season on March 22 in Norway.
Goggia entered the race with a chance to clinch the Super-G Crystal Globe outright but struggled with her setup on the steep pitch midway down the course. “It was clear to everyone that on the pitch I was really struggling with my skis,” Goggia said. “I had no control over them at all. When I got into the pitch I found myself in big difficulty to get the next gate.” Despite the disappointing result, the four-time downhill crystal globe winner is still in with good odds: a podium finish at the World Cup Finals would secure her first Super-G title.
Robinson, however, remains firmly in the hunt and the New Zealander has been having a strong season. The 24-year-old admitted after the race that she felt the course may have offered an opportunity she didn’t fully capitalize on. “It was not as hard as I was expecting,” Robinson said. “Maybe I could have pushed a little bit harder. We’ve got one more race so I’m happy to give that everything.”
Another contender in the standings, Germany’s Emma Aicher, effectively fell out of the Globe race after skiing out early. Aicher lost her line on the first roller and failed to finish, leaving the title battle squarely between Goggia and Robinson. While Aicher is out of the race for the Super-G crystal globe, she is still in the race for the overall season globe, which she is competing for against Mikaela Shiffrin. Therefore, it was no surprise to see Shiffrin compete today despite not competing in speed events this season—after one DNF in Super-G early in the season. Shiffrin finished in a far-off 23rd place, however, that still earned her 8 points towards the overall season crystal globe. Shiffrin now holds a 125-point lead on Aicher in the overall standings with six races remaining this season, including two slaloms — her strongest discipline.
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While the Crystal Globe fight dominated the headlines, Curtoni’s win was a powerful comeback story. The Italian veteran had been battling injuries and inconsistent form for the past two seasons after previously challenging for the Super-G Globe in 2022. A heavy crash in December 2023 further complicated her return to the top level. But on Sunday she produced one of the best runs of the day, building speed through the lower section and reaching the fastest recorded speed on course at more than 115 km/h. “The past two years have been a roller coaster,” Curtoni said. “It’s been really hard to come back from the last injury. I had a really bad time but I kept working and fighting.” The victory was Curtoni’s fourth career World Cup win and the first podium she has stood on since early 2023.
The biggest shock of the race came from Asja Zenere—most likely for Robinson who seemed securely on the podium tied with Miradoli for third. Zenere had never finished better than ninth in a World Cup race—and that was in Giant Slalom—and was starting in bib 33, but she attacked the course aggressively and held on for a remarkable third place, bumping Robinson and Miradoli off the podium. “It’s crazy,” Zenere said afterward. “I felt so good on the slope all these days.”
With the Val di Fassa speed weekend complete, the women’s World Cup tour now turns toward the season’s final regular races next weekend before the high-stakes World Cup Finals in Lillehammer, Norway, where we can expect a showdown for the Super-G crystal globe. Goggia will arrive in Norway with the advantage but little margin for error. Robinson, meanwhile, knows that a victory in the finale would apply maximum pressure. After a season of tight racing, the Super-G Crystal Globe will be decided by one last run.
