Home victory for Pirovano

LIVE: Hütter three tenths off the fastest time

Cornelia Hütter (right) finished fifth behind winner Laura Pirovano (left).(Bild: GEPA)

Cornelia Hütter and Ariane Rädler missed out on a podium place in the downhill in Val di Fassa by just five and seven hundredths of a second respectively. The two ÖSV ladies finished the race in fifth and sixth place. Meanwhile, Italy's Laura Pirovano celebrated her first World Cup victory in front of her home crowd.

Laura Pirovano won an Alpine Ski World Cup race for the first time in her career. The 28-year-old Italian won the first of two World Cup downhill races in Val di Fassa on Friday, one hundredth of a second ahead of Germany's Emma Aicher and 0.29 ahead of US Olympic champion Breezy Johnson. Cornelia Hütter was the best Austrian on the hard and compact "La Volata" course, finishing fifth (+0.34), while Ariane Rädler came sixth (+0.36). The second downhill race will take place on Saturday.

The result:

The downhill race was the replacement race for the one that was canceled in Crans Montana, where Lindsey Vonn tore her cruciate ligament before the Olympic Games. The American, who suffered a serious fall at the Winter Olympics and sustained a complex shin injury, posted a video on Instagram showing her already back in training in the weight room.

Vonn remains in the lead
Vonn retained her lead in the Downhill World Cup, with a 14-point lead over Aicher and 64 points over Pirovano. "It was an okay run. A hundredth of a second is nothing, but I'm happy for Laura, she deserves it," said Aicher, who was pleased that she was able to repeat her performance weekend after weekend. In the overall World Cup standings, Aicher is now second behind Mikaela Shiffrin from the USA, who still has a 139-point lead and may compete in the Super-G on Sunday. Pirovano not only secured her first victory, but also finished on the podium for the first time after a total of eleven fourth and fifth places. "So much is happening right now, it's just wonderful and I'm proud of what I've done."

"I made two small mistakes, but the basic plan was really cool. I felt what I wanted to feel. The top five is solid, but I want to be at the very front, which hurts a little," said Hütter from Styria, who was only five hundredths of a second off the podium. "You can see how close it is. You just have to give it your all on the slope." She wants to take the same approach again on Saturday (10:45 a.m.) and avoid the two line errors. "Then there's quite a lot in it."

Cornelia Hütter(Bild: AP/Luciano Bisi)

Rädler was also not far from the podium in her best World Cup result of the season in this discipline and in equaling her best result ever in this discipline, but she also did not have a flawless run. "It was pretty good at the top, but I need to let my skis run more at the bottom. You can't be too perfect here," she said. "I knew it was going to be a close race. The high expectations drive me on. You always want to push forward and finally stand on the downhill podium."

Ariane Rädler(Bild: GEPA)

Ortlieb misses out on top 10
Nina Ortlieb (+0.75), who was fastest in training, finished eleventh. "My classic mistake, too much inside position, I was already lying on my hip. Thank God I managed to get back up and into the race. It was important for my head to have another training run. But of course, a lot of expectations are dashed in a moment," said the Vorarlberg native. And when expectations are too high, it doesn't work. "It's my job to put that behind me, it's going to continue right away, one thing after another. Tomorrow I want to focus on the essentials and not think too much about what if." Mirjam Puchner still scored points in 22nd place.