The Swiss Jasmin Flury sensationally wins gold in the downhill of the Ski World Championships in Méribel. Germany’s fastest Kira Weidle puzzles over her decisive deficit.
“Man,” screamed Kira Weidle, her anger at the finish was great. After all, for her, the World Ski Championships in France were geared towards this one race: the descent of the Roc de Fer, the 1992 Olympic course, in Méribel. The strongest German speed driver, Weidle, aimed for a medal. But in the downhill race of hundredths of a second on Saturday (February 11, 2023), the 2021 World Cup silver winner ultimately played no role as eighth.
Instead, it was the day for big surprises: The Swiss Jasmine Flury won World Championship gold for the first time in her career, the Austrian Nina Ortlieb, four hundredths behind, won silver for the first time. Another eight hundredths back: the 2021 gold winner and Olympic champion, Corinne Suter from Switzerland.
Flury has never been at the top in the downhill World Cup
Jasmine Flury already set the target time with start number two, which ultimately made everyone despair. Especially at the top of the first splits, Flury had set a real benchmark early on. The competition started from driver to driver with more gaps in the lower part of the track and could not catch up with the Swiss.
What a surprise that was after James Crawford’s equally surprising gold coup on Thursday in the Super-G is illustrated by the past. She has not yet won a World Cup race in the downhill, she only won once in the Super-G – but in 2017 – at home in St. Moritz. A year ago she was second in the downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Weidle already loses decisively above
Weidle also lost her time, especially in the upper part, but down in the more technical passages with the long left-hand bend over three crests, she knew how to convince. “I have to say I gave everything. It was a decent ride, no big mistakes,” she said on ZDF. “I can’t explain to myself where the deficit comes from.”
According to Weidle, it was not due to the material. Instead, she suspected that external influences such as sun or wind might have caused the large deficits on Flury, Ortlieb and Suter to come together.
Goggia is eliminated after a blunder in front of the finish slope
On Saturday everyone was actually just waiting for start number six, for the big favorite Sofia Goggia from Italy, who has already won the overall downhill World Cup three times and the Olympic victory in 2018. She is considered the most merciless of all downhill skiers and was in front in two training runs.
But that changed on Saturday. Like the entire Italian team, she wore a black ribbon for the late ex-ski racer Elena Fanchini. In the upper section of the course, the 30-year-old was still within limits, but then she made a mistake in front of the finish slope when her skis failed after a transition and she then threaded them. But she wasn’t faster than Flury before.