Ladies Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup moves to Crans Montana for the World Cup Downhills (2) and the Super-G (replaces St. Moritz) Events. Located on a sunny plateau at 1,500 m above the Rhone Valley, Crans Montana offers visitors an outstanding Alpine panorama over the most beautiful peaks in the Alps, such as the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. The ski domain of Crans Montana (1500-3000) allows skiers and snowboarders to enjoy snow thanks to 30 lifts and 140 km of pistes (53.2 blue, 70 red, and 16.8 black) including the mythical Plaine Morte and the National. The Piste Nationale downhill course was remodeled on 2006/07 and two tunnels added to improve access during competitions.
Crans-Montana stretches up to the Plaine Morte glacier at an altitude of 3,000 meters, where the first alpine ski race took place in 1911 when the English skiing pioneer Sir Arnold Lunn organized the world's first timed downhill ski race, on the high Valais plateau from the Plaine Morte glacier to Mollens. Crans-Montana has so far hosted more than 25 FIS European Cup and FIS World Cup competitions, two World Cup Finals (1992 & 1998), the European Cup Finals 2009, and the unforgettable 1987 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.
Sofia Goggia has won the last two Downhill events (St. Anton and Val d'Isère 2) in the World Cup, after finishing runner-up in the opening Downhill race of the season (Val d'Isère). Goggia has won in her only previous World Cup Downhill participation in Crans Montana, on February 23, 2019. She can become the first woman to win three successive Downhill races in the World Cup since Lindsey Vonn achieved 4 wins in a row in 2018.
Corinne Suter has finished in the top two in four of her last five World Cup appearances in the Downhill. She won the opening Downhill race of this season, in Val d'Isère on December 18 but was out of the podium in the last one in St. Anton. Suter finished on the podium in all three of her World Cup appearances in the Crans-Montana Downhill: third in 2019 (her first World Cup DH podium) and second in both races in 2020.
Breezy Johnson finished third in all three Downhill races this World Cup season. Her best World Cup Downhill result before this season was fourth place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 2018.
Last season Lara Gut returns to the top of the podium, two years and a month later (her last victory in a Downhill was on January 2017 in Cortina), with a resounding victory in the Downhill of Crans Montana.
Crans Montana was the scene of a Swiss double in front of 7000 spectators cheering on their heroines. Lara Gut crossed the finish line in the lead in front of her teammate Corinne Suter (+0.80). Stephanie Venier completes the podium +0.92 seconds back.
One day after Gut achieved another victory in the same racecourse in Crans-Montana. Corinne Suter repeats second place on the podium +0.02 behind Gut. She has won the most Downhill races in the World Cup among active female skiers. In Crans Montana, she can become the 10th woman to win at least 10 Downhills in the World Cup.
Like in Friday’s Downhill, the Austrians also claimed third place on the day in one of the closest races of last season as Nina Ortlieb completes the podium (+0.05 s.).
Lara Gut-Behrami won the most recent Super-G event in the World Cup, in St. Anton am Arlberg on January 10. Gut can win successive super-G races in the World Cup for the first time since winning three in a row from December 2016 to January 2017.
Corinne Suter finished on the podium in each of the last four Super-G events in the World Cup.
Coming into Crans Montana, Marta Bassino has claimed four World Cup wins this season, all in the Giant Slalom. Bassino has claimed two career Super-G podiums in the World Cup, second in Bansko (January 2020) and St. Anton am Arlberg (January 2021).
Ester Ledecká won the opening Super-G event in the 2020-2021 World Cup, in Val d'Isère on December 20. This was her first World Cup victory and podium place in this discipline.
Downhill. Friday, January 22nd. 10:00 (CET)
Downhill. Saturday, January 23rd, 10:00 (CET)
Super-G. Sunday, January 24th, 12.00 (CET)
Known as the “Kitzbühel de ces dames”, the Mont Lachaux racecourse is among the most difficult on the World Cup Women's circuit. A one-minute thirty-five-second downhill, a technical roller coaster that allowed Ale Skardal, alpine boss of the Women's World Cup, to declare that "the Mont Lachaux track is at the upper limit for organizing a Women's event".
Downhill Racecourse facts:
Start Elevation: 2210m
Finish Elevation: 1545 m
Vertical Drop: 665 m
Distance: 2451m
Average slope: 31 %
Max. slope: 53 %
