Sofia Goggia
Sofia Goggia (; born 15 November 1992) is an Italian World Cup alpine ski racer who competes in all disciplines and specialises in the speed events of downhill and super-G. She is a two-time Olympic downhill medalist — gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the first one for an Italian woman — and three-time World Cup downhill title winner (2018, 2021, 2022). Biography. With only four career starts in giant slalom (and no finishes) in her World Cup career, Goggia was named to the Italian women's team for the 2013 World Championships in Schladming, Austria. She capitalized  on the opportunity and posted two top ten finishes: fourth in the super-G and seventh in the super combined. Goggia attained her first World Cup podium in November 2016, a third place in giant slalom at Killington. She won the bronze medal in the same event at the World Championships in February. Goggia's first World Cup win came in downhill in March 2017 at Jeongseon, South Korea. She followed it up with a super-G win the following day for her eleventh World Cup podium of the season. It was the fourth time that she gained multiple podiums  at the same race venue, and added a fifth with two podiums at the World Cup finals in Aspen. She finished the season with 1197 World Cup points, 13 podiums in four different disciplines and third place overall. In 2018, she won consecutive World Cup downhills in mid-January at Bad Kleinkirchheim and Cortina d'Ampezzo. She was the gold medalist in the downhill at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, and won the World Cup season title in downhill, edging out Lindsey Vonn by three points. The sporting achievements of the season earned her a nomination for the  Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year. A broken ankle in October 2018 caused Goggia to miss most of the World Cup season; she returned in late January 2019 with runner-up finishes in her first two starts at She won her first race of the season since her comeback from the injury in the ladies' downhill at Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in February. At the World Championships in Åre, Goggia won the silver medal in the Super-G, 0.02 seconds behind gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin. In June 2019, the Italian Olympic Committee named Goggia as ambassador for the  nation’s bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina. On 24 June she was part of the Italian delegation at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, where Milan-Cortina were elected as hosts, defeating Stockholm-Åre. In the 2019–2020 season Goggia achieved two Super-G podiums - a victory in St. Moritz and a second place in Sochi – both together with teammate Federica Brignone. In early February she suffered a fall during the Super-G race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen that caused a fracture in her left arm and the premature end of the season. On 19 December 2020  Goggia claimed her first World Cup downhill victory in almost two years on the Oreiller-Killy slope in Val d’Isère, France, a day after finishing in second place on the same hill for the first race of the World Cup 2021 speed season. She continued her podium-topping year in the discipline in January 2021, with a first place in St. Anton, Austria, and back-to-back victories on the Mont Lachaux course in Crans-Montana. By winning four downhill races in a row Goggia became the first woman skier to achieve this feat since Vonn in 2018. On January  31, while skiing down to the valley after the cancelled super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Goggia fell on the wet snow, breaking a bone in her right knee. The injury forced her to miss the home World Championships in Cortina – started just a week after the fall – and two World Cup downhill races. She back training in early March, planning to defend her downhill standings lead in the last event of the season in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. On March 17, Goggia became for the second time in career World Cup downhill champion, after heavy snowfall forced the cancellation of the race . On December 3–5, 2021, Goggia won all three races in Lake Louise for her first career “hat-trick”, joining Lindsey Vonn (2011, 2012, 2015) and Katja Seizinger (1997) as the only women to win both downhills and super-G in the classic canadian venue. In October 2021, Goggia was named as Italy's flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. On January 23, 2022, Goggia suffered a knee injury after a crash in the Cortina d'Ampezzo Super-G. She immediately started physical rehab with the aim of returning in time to defend her  Olympic downhill title in mid-February. Goggia traveled to Beijing aiming to take part in the downhill, but pulled out from her flag-bearing duties in the opening ceremony on February 4th. On February 15, despite all setbacks, she won silver in downhill – her second consecutive Olympic medal in that event. After the Olympics, Goggia did not enjoy much success in the remaining World Cup events, but nonetheless won the Downhill cup once again with her strong early season results (4 victories and a third place). Injuries. The career of the Bergamo athlete has been studded with numerous injuries. All  these injuries did not prevent her from winning seventeen World Cup victories with a third place in the 2016-17 overall standings, three World Cup season titles in downhill, two medals at the World Championships, the Olympic downhill title at PyeongChang 2018 and the silver medal in the same event at Beijing 2022, only three weeks after partially tearing her ACL.