Suter wins Garmisch downhill in final Olympic tune-up
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Suter wins Garmisch downhill in final Olympic tune-up
Reigning world champion Corinne Suter boosted her morale ahead of the Olympic downhill in Beijing with victory at Garmisch-Partkenkirchen on Saturday in the weekend's final tune-up races before the Winter games, which starts next week.
Suter thundered down the downhill course in the heart of the Bavarian alps, clocking one minute, 40.74 seconds with Swiss team-mate Jasmine Flury second at 0.51 behind.
Austria's Cornelia Huetter finished third at 0.78 behind Suter, who won the world downhill title in Cortina d'Ampezzo last February.
"I am really happy to have won here, it wasn't planned, but I am happy to have some momentum," said Suter with one eye on the Beijing Olympics, which open Friday.
Suter can complete the Garmisch double on Sunday in the women's super-G.
With just days to go before the Olympics, several top-names were missing in Garmisch, including overall World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin of the USA.
Swiss racers Lara Gut-Behrami and Michelle Gisin were among the other top names who opted to skip Bavaria to head to China early.
Injured overall World Cup downhill leader Sofia Goggia was also absent as she battles against time to defend her Olympic title on February 15 in Beijing.
The Italian sprained her knee, tore a ligament and suffered a small fracture to her fibula in a crash last Sunday on home snow in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Suter's victory in Garmisch lifted her to second in the overall downhill World Cup rankings behind Goggia.
"It's a pity that Sofia (Goggia) and Breezy Johnson (of the USA) weren't here, but understandable," added Suter on her missing downhill rivals.
It was Suter's first World Cup win of the season as she clocked a top speed of 118km/h on the lower section of the course to claim victory.
It was her first downhill victory since Val d'Isere in December 2020, the same year the 27-year-old won both the overall World Cup titles in both super-G and downhill
Austria's Ramona Siebenhofer, who dropped one place to third in the downhill rankings just ahead of Johnson, finished a disappointing 17th after a cautious performance on the icy course.
F.Coineagan --NG
