Departure in Tarvisio

Ortlieb narrowly misses podium in Delago’s home victory

Nina Ortlieb finished fourth on Saturday.(Bild: GEPA)

On Saturday, Nina Ortlieb was just 16 hundredths of a second away from her first World Cup podium since her comeback. While Italy's Nicol Delago celebrated a home victory in the downhill in Tarvisio, the Vorarlberg native finished in fourth place. Germany's Kira Weidle-Winkelmann (+0.20) came second, with US star Lindsey Vonn (+0.26) completing the podium.

Italy's Nicol Delago celebrated her first World Cup victory on Saturday in the Alpine downhill in Tarvisio. The 30-year-old prevailed in the return of the skiing elite to the downhill course, finishing two tenths ahead of Germany's Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and another six hundredths ahead of US star Lindsey Vonn. The World Cup leader in the discipline relegated Nina Ortlieb to fourth place by 0.16 seconds. The Vorarlberg native thus gave a good response to the ÖSV defeat in Zauchensee.

The result:

In Salzburg a week earlier, Cornelia Hütter had been the best of the red-white-red team in 20th place, but on the new course, which was new to everyone except Vonn and Italy's Elena Curtoni, revenge was on the agenda. However, only Ortlieb succeeded in this, with none of her teammates making it into the top ten. On the course leading from Monte Santo to Lussari, Mirjam Puchner finished eleventh (+1.35) in foggy conditions in the middle section, tied with local hero Sofia Goggia, who was struggling by her standards, while Hütter finished 18th (+2.06) and Ariana Rädler 20th (+2.30).

Best result of the season for Ortlieb
Ortlieb was certainly satisfied with her run and performance, as well as her best result of the season. "It was a very clean run, perhaps a little too controlled in one or two places." Despite very poor visibility, the foggy section was no problem, as there had been two training runs. The 29-year-old had finished first and second in those. However, she was not disappointed about missing out on a podium place. "I can absolutely live with that. You always have to keep your feet on the ground. It's a relatively long race and I'm not that far behind."

Nina Ortlieb(Bild: GEPA)

Ortlieb, who has been set back so often by injuries in her career, spoke of a finer, significantly less hard slope than in training. "We all expected the snow to be even slower. Overall, the conditions are very good for the weather." Puchner, on the other hand, had question marks about her run in the middle section. "I lost the most time in the foggy section, where I couldn't even see the gate. We'll need to analyze what happened from top to bottom," said the Salzburg native, also with a view to Sunday's Super-G (11:15 a.m.).

Nicol Delago(Bild: AP/Marco Trovati)

Hütter was at a loss in her ORF interview after giving her all and sticking to her line. "I didn't stand anywhere off course. I had no idea at the finish why I was so far behind." The Styrian did not want to bring up the issue of equipment in the heat of the moment: "I don't want to jump to conclusions. I didn't make it any further. We need to reflect on and analyze what went wrong." Ricarda Haaser (22nd, +2.58), Emily Schöpf (25th, +3.05), and Christina Ager (27th, +3.14) also earned World Cup points for the Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV).

Top ten "Sister Act"
Delago needed 133 World Cup races to break through to victory. And she did so in her home country, even though she didn't have much racing experience on this slope. "Unbelievable! I haven't quite realized it yet. It's a slope where you can let your skis run really well and pick up a lot of speed." The South Tyrolean was very pleased with her sister Nadia's tenth place finish with start number 29 (+1.15). Weidle-Winkelmann, on the other hand, was annoyed about a mistake she made in the finish curve during training: "I was already cursing during the run."

Vonn also finished her seventh race of the season in the top four, only failing to make the podium in the super-G in St. Moritz. The 41-year-old further extended her lead in the Downhill World Cup on a course that she says does not suit her, as her closest rival, Germany's Emma Aicher, finished fifth (+0.80). Five of nine downhill races this season have been completed, and before the Olympic Games in Milan/Cortina, there is still one race in the fastest discipline on the schedule on January 30 in Crans-Montana.