MERIBEL, France (Reuters) – Favourite Sofia Goggia was fastest for Italy in third training for Saturday’s downhill at the Alpine skiing world championships in Meribel.
The 2018 Olympic champion and 2022 silver medallist clocked a best time of one minute and 28.31 seconds down the Roc de Fer piste in sunny conditions, 0.46 faster than Austria’s Mirjam Puchner.
Norway’s Kajsa Vickhoff Lie was third with team mate Ragnhild Mowinckel fourth and Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami, the reigning Olympic super-G champion, fifth.
Reigning world champion Corinne Suter of Switzerland was only 23rd.
Italy is going for a third women’s gold in three events so far at the French resort, with Federica Brignone winning the combined on Monday and Marta Bassino the super-G on Wednesday.
Goggia is also looking to complete her personal set of championship medals after taking silver in super-G in 2019 and bronze in giant slalom in 2017.
American Mikaela Shiffrin, who took her 12th career world championship medal with silver in the super-G, is not racing the downhill.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Christian Radnedge)
