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After rapid hand surgery, Goggia dominates downhill
Sofia Goggia returned from overnight surgery on broken fingers to crush the competition in the second women's World Cup downhill race in Saint Moritz on Saturday.
The Italian broke two fingers on the way to second place in the downhill the day before and travelled to Milan for an operation.
She returned to Saint Moritz in time for the start of the weekend's second race and, with her left hand taped to her ski pole, flew down the course in 1min 28.85sec.
"Yesterday it was broken, today it was already fixed," Goggia said after claiming her third downhill win of the season 0.43sec ahead of Slovenia's Ilka Stuhec with Germany's Kira Weidle third at 0.52sec.
"I'm really happy today," she continued.
"If I'm here today and I'm doing this interview it's just because I have to say huge thanks to the people who helped me out here yesterday, from the doctor to the driver who brought me."
Goggia raced with a plate and nine screws inserted in the left hand and also had holes cut into her glove.
She still skied a typically aggressive run in sunny conditions after Friday's fog lifted on the full-length Corviglia course and won her 11th victory in the last 16 World Cup downhill races she has competed in.
"I couldn't push at the start gate and this is why I didn't have the gap of the training runs, but half a second is enough," she said of the victory margin. "Also one hundredth of a second is enough."
"I really understand that it was a bit risky, but I said to myself that after Beijing (when she recovered from a knee injury to win silver), I could endure everything and this is exactly what I did."
The 2018 Olympic downhill champion moved 80 points clear of Swiss skier Corinne Suter atop the downhill standings.
American Mikaela Shiffrin was fourth, 0.61 behind the winner, and leads the overall standings by 51 points from Swiss skier Wendy Holdener.
Goggia was only fifth fastest in the first sector but gained time as she attacked the middle of the course holding on for her 20th World Cup victory, two weeks after her double in Lake Louise.
Goggia's aggressive approach has led to a string of injuries. In 2021, she missed "her" World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo because of a right knee injury. In February she won an Olympic silver medal in the downhill skiing with a sprained knee.
O. Larsen--BTZ
