Ester Ledecka won this Saturday the first contested downhill since the Beijing Olympics, in Crans Montana (Switzerland). The Czech was ahead of the Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel by 21 hundredths and the Austrian Cornelia Hütter by 42 hundredths.
Olympic super-G champion in 2018, 5th in the super-G, 27th in downhill and 4th in the combined at the Beijing Olympics, Ledecka now has three World Cup victories, including two in downhill, following that of Lake Louise in December 2019 .
Suter and Goggia far behind
After the passage of the first 30 bibs, the Italian Sofia Goggia, at the top of the classification of the specialty and Olympic vice-champion in Beijing, is in 12th place (+1”47), the Swiss Corinne Suter, Olympic champion in Beijing, is 10th (+1”22). The Slovak Petra Vlhova, in the race for the big globe (2nd in the general classification), is only 25th, while the leader of the World Cup Mikaela Shiffrin is absent in Crans Montana.
On the French side, Laura Gauché is 13th at 1”53, Romane Miradoli 19th at 2”06. The next downhill will be contested this Sunday, still in Crans Montana.