Industry News
It was a perfect day for racing with blue skies and a hard-packed course at Val d’Isere, France, on Saturday & Sunday, December 16-17, 2023. After some criticism about the race course of the Men’s speed events the previous week, which was canceled due to rain and some issues with the piste that was deemed too soft, the Women’s speed events — a Downhill and a Super-G event — were held without any difficulties.
Saturday, December 16, 2023, saw the Women’s Downhill race. Victory went to Switzerland’s Jasmine Flury, who won the 2023 Downhill World Championship in Courchevel & Meribel, France, earlier this year. It is Flury’s first World Cup Downhill victory and third overall podium. She shared the podium with teammate Joana Hählen, who finished 0.22 seconds behind Flury. Rounding out the podium was Cornelia Hütter from Austria, who finished a mere 0.02 seconds Hütter.
Italy’s Sofia Goggia missed out on the podium, finishing in fourth, while Mikaela Shiffrin did not compete in the Downhill. The best performance from Team USA came from Jacqueline Wiles who finished in 25th place, followed by Isabella Wright in 29th place, and Keely Cashman in 30th place, all earning valuable FIS points. Lauren Macuga finished in 38th while Tricia Mangan did not finish.
“After the world championship, now to win also a World Cup race, it takes a little bit of pressure again off me and I’m just really happy.”
— Jasmine Flury
Unfortunately the race was overshawdowed by a horrific crash by Stefanie Fleckenstein from Canada, who crashed at full speed, just meters from the finish line. She still recorded a time and finished in overall 27th, but remained on the ground as she skidded across the finish-line, reduced to blood-curdling screams. The emergency crew ran to her in the finish area aid immediately, but athletes and spectators were left aghast from her pained cries. The race was halted for almost 20 minutes, until the independent ski racer from Whistler could be stretchered off. The 26-year-old Canadian later shared on her social media that she had a lower leg injury, the extent of which is at this point unclear.
“I can’t thank the emergency staff enough for their help in keeping me comfortable and feeling safe. The support has been unbelievable and I’m looking at the positive side of things (unlimited juce boxes).”
Sunday saw the Super-G event which was a fascinating race to watch. Italy’s Federica Brignone took home the win with an incredible run in 1:21:58, which was 0.44 seconds ahead of second placed Kaja Vickhoff Lie from Norway. Third place went to Brignone’s teammate, the ‘Queen of Speed’ Sofia Goggia.
Best U.S. skier was Lauren Macuga who finished in 17th place. It is Macuga’s personal best result in a World Cup event. The list of skiers who did not finish the tricky course in Val d’Isere was long. Out of 58 ski racers a shocking total of 26 skiers recording a DNF, including all of Macuga’s six teammates. A tricky gate at the bottom half of the race course which was set after a blind corner caused several skiers to go too low. It also became the stumbling block for top-ranked skiers like Mikaela Shiffrin, Lara Gut-Behrami, and Alice Robinson. The course had been set by one of the Italian coaches, Paolo Stefanini. According to the Alpine Ski DataBase, the DNF rate of 44.8% is the highest for a Women’s Super-G World Cup in 24 years.
