Austrian skier Venier wins Cortina downhill after Shiffrin among racers who crashed
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Stephanie Venier held her nerve to win a World Cup downhill after Mikaela Shiffrin and other skiers crashed on Friday on the course marked for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Shiffrin crashed into the safety nets after losing control while landing a jump on the upper portion of the course. She was helped off the course with her left boot raised off the snow.
After Shiffrin and fellow former overall champion Federica Brignone went down, as well as Olympic champion Corinne Suter, Venier was able to deal with the challenging terrain on the Olympia delle Tofane course.
Venier finished 0.39 seconds ahead of Lara Gut-Behrami and 0.71 ahead of three skiers who tied for third: Valerie Grenier, Christina Ager and home favorite Sofia Goggia — creating a rare five-person podium.
“I saw all the crashes on the top," Venier said. "But I think I managed it, and it was a good run, and my technician did a really good job. My skis were really fast today.”
Venier’s second career World Cup win came five years after a downhill win in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
No women on the once dominant Austrian team had won a downhill since December 2019 through Nicole Schmidhofer at Lake Louise, Alberta.
Shiffrin’s arms were flailing as she landed in a patch of soft snow. The American, who has a record 95 World Cup wins, then slammed into the net at high speed and rebounded back onto the snow. Medics tended to Shiffrin immediately.
Shiffrin’s team said she suffered a left leg injury and was taken by ambulance to the clinic in Cortina.
Brignone crashed shortly after the race resumed following a delay because of Shiffrin’s fall. But Brignone got right up and proceeded to ski down. She was unhurt.
Then Suter pulled up midway down her run with an apparent injury. Suter sat and clutched her left knee.
Michelle Gisin, a two-time Olympic champion, also crashed later on but appeared to avoid serious injury.
The race was held amid clear and sunny conditions but warm temperatures.
Shiffrin and Brignone are the fourth and fifth former overall World Cup champions to crash in the past two weeks following season-ending injuries to Alexis Pinturault, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Petra Vlhova.
In all, 12 of 52 starters didn't finish the race.
Another downhill is scheduled for Cortina on Saturday, followed by a super-G on Sunday.
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