Knee woes out of mind as Goggia eyes Olympic downhill defence
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Knee woes out of mind as Goggia eyes Olympic downhill defence
Italy's Sofia Goggia says she will defend her Olympic downhill title on Tuesday safe in the knowledge that she is no longer thinking about her knee injury.
Goggia sustained the injury in a crash on home snow in Cortina d'Ampezzo last month.
She admitted that she quickly ditched her crutches after just three of the 10 recommended days because she feared it would harm her fitness.
After finishing fourth in Monday's third and final training run, Goggia said: "I didn’t think even in the slightest about my leg today.
"I think you could see that. I was very focused... it was a good test, the latest confirmation that after two downhill runs, and so few days after a race injury, I can focus on myself."
Swiss racer Joana Haehlen emerged from what she dubbed the "shark tank" of internal team qualification to top timings down the "Rock" course in 1min 33.18sec.
Goggia, who streaked in 0.61sec behind in cold, clear conditions, added: "Today felt great. I had a nice training run, I was well on my skis and this was the most important thing.
"Of course I’m focused on tomorrow and I’m visualising in my head the best downhill that it can be.
"For sure the work and analysis with my coaches today are going to be mandatory and really so important, so I’m looking forward."
Among the field for the downhill proper will be American Mikaela Shiffrin, who insisted she was "not focusing on the medal".
The two-time Olympic champion was one of the biggest names coming into Beijing, but skied out of both the giant slalom and slalom, before rebounding to finish ninth in the super-G.
"If you ask any athlete who’s had medals or podiums, your mind is never away from that, there’s always some part of you that’s thinking 'maybe there’s a chance'," Shiffrin said.
"But I’m not focusing on the medal anymore, it’s just trying to do my best execution every day.
"Your best chance for that performance is to stop thinking about the performance and focus on what you’re doing in that moment.
"I’m just trying to be present in the moment, especially in downhill... you cannot get ahead of yourself. It’s not conducive to a good performance, but even more it’s very, very dangerous!"
Shiffrin had been toying with the idea of not competing in the ultimate speed test, but she was buoyed by not being too far behind in the final training run, finishing just 1.40sec off Haehlen's leading time.
"There are a lot of positives. Probably my biggest worry from this training run was that everybody was going to get faster and I was just going to say in the same spot," she said.
"But I stayed in approximately the same distance, that’s perfect... I’m very optimistic that I’m within a pretty good range."
M.Huber--HHA
