Industry News
While today’s Downhill, the second of two Downhill races at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, was equally eventful as yesterday’s, Team USA came away with a podium despite Mikaela Shiffrin missing from the team today. Yesterday, Friday, January 26, Shiffrin had crashed on the top-section of the Olympia delle Tofane course at the Italian ski resort. But it was Jackie Wiles today, Saturday, January 27, who skied the race of her life, and won a podium for Team USA. The 31-year-old was at the top section of the course even in the lead, but gave back some of the speed towards the bottom of the section, finishing in second place.
Unfortunately, today also saw several injuries, including another member from Team USA: Isabella Wright, who had skied to a fantastic 18th place yesterday. Wright crashed after the Delta jump and had to be helicoptered off the mountain. Overall, the race was marred by several delays, some from crashes, others from strong gusts of wind, that made a safe race impossible for some stretches of the day. Switzerland’s Joana Hälen also suffered an injury during the race and skied to the side, falling to the snow in agony. Swiss Ski, the national ski association, confirmed later that the 32-year-old athlete had indeed torn her ACL when she landed a jump on the course poorly, and will be out for the rest of the season.
- Related: Dramatic Crashes & Overcrowded Podiums at the Downhill World Cup at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
The race started at 10:30 a.m. local time this morning but several delays saw the race stretched across the morning and into the afternoon, and the race was canceled before the last two skiers could start. At the end of a very long day it was Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel who took home the victory with 1:33.50 minutes, 0.35 seconds ahead of America’s Jacqueline Wiles, and 0.44 seconds ahead of Italy’s Sofia Goggia. It marks Mowinckel’s first Downhill World Cup podium, Wiles’ first-ever second place and personal best — her previous best were two third places in 2017 and 2018 – and Goggia’s 54th career podium and 34th Downhill podium. The Italian leads this season’s Downhill standings with 350 points and is last season’s defending champion.
“Insane! I’m so in shock! It’s been a long time, building back confidence after injuries, and years of fighting back the pain, so this is absolutely insane! I’m extremely happy. Yeah, I love Cortina — the first place I scored World Cup points — and it’s always been a favorite of mine. I was able to get on the podium here a long time ago so to be able to be back on the podium, but one step more, is really, really cool.
I think during the run I knew was having a good one going, but in a couple of spots I got a little low, and I didn’t know if I was gonna carry as much speed, but I think I did a good job of letting the skis keep running. I didn’t think it was gonna be that good so that was a complete shock and really, really cool result.
Yeah, it’s best case scenario today. Yesterday was really really hard to watch Mikaela go down and then watching Bella go down at the beginning of today, too. It kinda hit the core a little tough, but they’re both gonna be OK. So yeah, it’s been insane.”
— Jackie Wiles
Thankfully, Wright reappeared with a bandage to her chin in the finish area — much to everyone’s surprise — in time to give her teammate Wiles a huge hug. In an interview with Eurosport, the 26-year-old American shared the extent of her injuries: “I’m really glad I’m standing here. I wanted to make sure that I stand here again and support my teammates. I have a laceration on my chin that I’ll need to get stitched up, and we’ll see how my head is doing later. I think, for the most part, I’m pretty lucky.”
Teammates Lauren Macuga and Keely Cashman finished in the top 30 skiers who earn valuable FIS points, with Macuga in 23rd place and Cashman in 24th.
The speed-weekend at Cortina continues with a Super-G tomorrow. Mikaela Shiffrin has confirmed that she will not be competing. We expect Isabella Wright will still be recovering, however Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin may be fit enough to race again after yesterday’s crash.
