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Alpine ski
The Italian alpine ski team has to digest a painful loss a week before the start of the World Ski Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo (February 8-21). World Cup series winner Sofia Goggia suffered a lateral tibial head fracture at the right knee joint on a side slope in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Sunday and will be out for several weeks.
“Goggia will not participate in the World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo, which start on Monday, February 8,” the Italian Ski Federation (FISI) said on Sunday evening after medical examinations in Milan. After the Super-G postponement scheduled for Sunday morning at Garmisch, he is said to have crashed while driving from the start area back to the valley.
The 2018 Olympic downhill champion complained of knee pain and was transported. Goggia, 28, was one of the host nation’s biggest hopes at the World Curtain Championships. She had won the last four World Cup races so far and finished second once. The first competition in the Dolomites is the combination on February 8.
Time and time again plagued with injuries
For Goggia, it was not the first setback in his career. A week after winning her first World Cup points in November 2013, the Italian tore her left knee ligament in an accident on the Lake Louise descent and missed the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. He returned the following season, but fell again in January 2015 with knee problems.
Goggia also missed the first three months of the 2018/19 season after breaking his ankle in preparation. Later that season, she won silver in the Super-G at the World Ski Championships in Aare, Sweden, behind American Mikaela Shiffrin. And a year ago Goggia broke his forearm in a fall at Garmisch’s Super-G.
Downhill World Cup victory is still possible
In the current season, Goggia was on his way to his second Downhill World Cup title. She won her first Disciplinary World Cup in 2017/18, just three points ahead of American Lindsey Vonn. The Italian currently leads 195 points with 480 points ahead of Breezy Johnson (285) of the USA and 210 ahead of last year’s winner Corinne Suter (270) of Switzerland. Three World Cup races are still pending. Whether Goggia wins the second title depends on the other results of his rivals.
