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GarmischPartenkirchen, Germany, Jan 29 (AFP\/APP):Reigning world champion Corinne Suter boosted her morale ahead of the Olympic downhill in Beijing with victory at Garmisch-Partkenkirchen on Saturday in the weekend’s final tune-up races before the Winter games, which starts next week.<\/p>\n
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Suter thundered down the downhill course in the heart of the Bavarian alps, clocking one minute, 40.74 seconds with Swiss team-mate Jasmine Flury second at 0.51 behind.<\/p>\n
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Austria’s Cornelia Huetter finished third at 0.78 behind Suter, who won the world downhill title in Cortina d’Ampezzo last February.<\/p>\n
“I am really happy to have won here, it wasn’t planned, but I am happy to have some momentum,” said Suter with one eye on the Beijing Olympics, which open Friday.<\/p>\n
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Suter can complete the Garmisch double on Sunday in the women’s super-G.<\/p>\n
With just days to go before the Olympics, several top-names were missing in Garmisch, including overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin of the USA.<\/p>\n
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Swiss racers Lara Gut-Behrami and Michelle Gisin were among the other top names who opted to skip Bavaria to head to China early.<\/p>\n
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Injured overall World Cup downhill leader Sofia Goggia was also absent as she battles against time to defend her Olympic title on February 15 in Beijing.<\/p>\n
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The Italian sprained her knee, tore a ligament and suffered a small fracture to her fibula in a crash last Sunday on home snow in Cortina d’Ampezzo.<\/p>\n
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Suter’s victory in Garmisch lifted her to second in the overall downhill World Cup rankings behind Goggia.<\/p>\n
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“It’s a pity that Sofia (Goggia) and Breezy Johnson (of the USA) weren’t here, but understandable,” added Suter on her missing downhill rivals.<\/p>\n
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It was Suter’s first World Cup win of the season as she clocked a top speed of 118km\/h on the lower section of the course to claim victory.<\/p>\n
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It was her first downhill victory since Val d’Isere in December 2020, the same year the 27-year-old won both the overall World Cup titles in both super-G and downhill.<\/p>\n
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Austria’s Ramona Siebenhofer, who dropped one place to third in the downhill rankings just ahead of Johnson, finished a disappointing 17th after a cautious performance on the icy course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GarmischPartenkirchen, Germany, Jan 29 (AFP\/APP):Reigning world champion Corinne Suter boosted her morale ahead of the Olympic downhill in Beijing with victory at Garmisch-Partkenkirchen on Saturday in the weekend’s final tune-up races before the Winter games, which starts next week. Suter thundered down the […]<\/p>\n
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