Cortina Women’s Races Preview

Next weekend, the Women’s World Cup returns to Cortina, the “Queen of the Dolomites”, for two days of action featuring a Downhill and a Super-G.

Cortina programme:

Downhill: Saturday, 22 January, 11:30 CET
Super-G: Sunday, 23 January, 11:45 CET

Cortina d’Ampezzo is one of Italy’s best-known ski resorts. The town is located in the province of Belluno, in the Veneto region, close to the north-eastern border with Austria.

Surrounded by the imposing peaks of Tofana, Monte Cristallo and the Sorapis Dolomites, Cortina is known as the Regina delle Dolomiti.

Cortina d’Ampezzo is one of the 12 ski areas that make up Dolomiti Superski, one of the world’s largest ski domains, with 1,200 kilometres of slopes, modern lifts and spectacular mountain scenery.

Cortina lies within the Dolomites landscape, declared a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.

Cortina d’Ampezzo made its FIS World Cup debut with a men’s Downhill in 1969. From 1975, it hosted women’s Downhill races for three consecutive years. After a long absence, it has been an annual stop on the Women’s World Cup circuit since 1993, staging Downhill and Super-G races on the Olympia delle Tofane.

The Olympia delle Tofane is 2,560 metres long and includes particularly spectacular sections such as the Schuss, with a maximum gradient of 65%, where speed specialists jump and exceed 130 km/h; the Duca d’Aosta jump; the blind Delta passage; the demanding Gran Curvone and the subsequent change of gradient at the Scarpadon.

Last weekend in Zauchensee, Sofia Goggia, who had won the previous seven World Cup Downhill races in which she competed, finished outside the podium places for the first time since coming fourth in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on 8 February 2020.

Goggia has recorded 11 World Cup Downhill victories. She can claim her second win in Cortina after winning there on 19 January 2018. One month later, she captured the Olympic Downhill gold medal at PyeongChang 2018.

The Italian leads the Downhill standings with a 60-point advantage over Breezy Johnson. Goggia won her second Downhill Crystal Globe the previous season, following her first title in 2017–2018.

She is aiming to become the first woman to win the Downhill Crystal Globe in consecutive seasons since Lindsey Vonn in 2014–2015 and 2015–2016.

Goggia also leads the Super-G standings, five points ahead of her compatriot Federica Brignone. This season, she has won two World Cup Super-G races: Lake Louise on 5 December and Val d’Isère on 19 December.

Lara Gut-Behrami won the Zauchensee Downhill the previous Saturday, securing her first podium of the season in the discipline.

Gut-Behrami has achieved 12 of her 34 World Cup victories in Downhill, drawing level with Isolde Kostner in eighth place on the all-time women’s list.

The three-time Cortina medallist — world champion in Super-G and Giant Slalom and bronze medallist in Downhill — ranks ninth on the all-time women’s list with 34 World Cup victories across all disciplines.

Lara Gut-Behrami won the second Super-G of the season in St. Moritz on 11 December. It was the 17th Super-G victory of her career, drawing her level with Renate Götschl in second place on the all-time women’s list. Only Lindsey Vonn, with 28 victories, has won more.

Gut-Behrami has won two World Cup Super-G races in Cortina d’Ampezzo, on 26 January 2014 and 21 January 2018.

Last season, she claimed her third Super-G Crystal Globe, following her previous titles in 2013–2014 and 2015–2016.

Federica Brignone has six World Cup Super-G victories, more than any other Italian woman. Her two wins this season came in St. Moritz on 12 December and Altenmarkt-Zauchensee the previous Sunday.

Brignone could become the first Italian woman to win two consecutive World Cup Super-G races.

She is also aiming to become the second Italian woman to win a World Cup Super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo, after Isolde Kostner on 25 January 1997.

Brignone could become the first Italian woman to win the Super-G Crystal Globe. She has already won the Overall title in 2019–2020, the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe in 2019–2020 and two Alpine Combined titles in 2018–2019 and 2019–2020.

Mikaela Shiffrin has finished in the top six in 10 of her last 11 World Cup Super-G appearances, including her four victories. The only exception was a tenth-place finish in Lake Louise on 8 December 2019.

Shiffrin won the most recent World Cup Super-G held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, in 2019. Her latest victory in the discipline came in Bansko on 26 January 2020.