Italian skier Sofia Goggia wins super-G to regain commanding lead in World Cup discipline standings

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SOLDEU, Andorra (AP) — Sofia Goggia won her second super-G of the season Sunday and regained a commanding lead in the race to the World Cup discipline title.

The Olympic downhill bronze medallist extended her advantage in the super-G standings to 84 points over Alice Robinson of New Zealand and 116 over Emma Aicher of Germany in third, with two events left.

A race win is worth 100 points.

“I'm still not thinking about it,” said Goggia, who bounced back in impressive style, a day after the Italian had her lead reduced to just 20 points following a sixth-place finish in another super-G.

“I’m really thinking day by day, race by race. It was a solid run today, I got back the points I lost yesterday," she added.

With a trademark gutsy run, Goggia beat Saturday’s winner Aicher by 0.24 seconds and third-placed Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway by 0.31.

Robinson finished 0.94 seconds behind in seventh.

“It was a really similar race to yesterday. But we decided to adopt a different strategy to get into the central pitch, and it paid off,” Goggia said.

Goggia and Robinson set up their duel for the super-G title early in the season when they won the first two races, but neither added another win until the Italian's victory Sunday.

Goggia now has nine career wins in super-G but is chasing her first season title in the discipline, having won the crystal globe in downhill four times, most recently in 2023.

“I still haven’t won in downhill yet (this season), and this is maybe a bit strange for everyone, because I have been doing so many podiums in downhill in my career,” said Goggia, who was the 2018 Olympic downhill champion.

“I have a really solid feeling with the super-G, so I’m happy with it. Now it’s important to stay really focused for the next ones in which we play for everything.”

Olympic super-G champion Federica Brignone came nearly a second behind her Italian teammate in eighth, improving from her 15th-place finish in Saturday’s race when she was more than two seconds off the pace.

Brignone returned from a broken left leg just before the Milan Cortina Games and then won gold in super-G and giant slalom.

Mary Bocock earned her career-best result leading the U.S. ski team in 11th, one position ahead of her teammate Keely Cashman.

Olympic downhill champion Breezy Johnson was nearly three seconds off the pace in 30th.

Aicher’s seventh podium result of the season saw the German close in on second-ranked Camille Rast in the overall standings. The Swiss skier has 963 points while Aicher is on 914.

Mikaela Shiffrin leads with 1,133 points as the American aims for her sixth overall title. She hasn’t competed in speed races this season except for one super-G start last December.

Shiffrin is expected back in action for a GS and slalom in Sweden on March 14-15.

The World Cup continues with two downhills and a super-G in Italy next weekend.

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing