The women’s World Cup season is cursed. This time, it was Sofia Goggia who was seriously injured in training and who saw her winter end prematurely. The incident took place this Monday morning in Ponte di Legno, a resort located two hours’ drive from the Bergamasca’s home. She was hit in the right leg and suffered a fracture of the tibia and malleolus.
A plate and 7 screws
The transalpine skier was training as a giant in preparation for the Soldeu event next weekend. Her right ski got caught in a door as she passed, while she was skiing on the Casola Nera slope. The World Cup downhill leader fell before being airlifted to Milan for an MRI, which revealed the severity of the injury.
She operated again this Monday afternoon at the La Madonnina Clinic for a multi-fragmentary fracture of the right tibial pilon. “The surgical intervention went perfectly,” announced the Italian federation. The 31-year-old skier had a plate with seven screws applied and will observe a rest period of approximately 40 days. “This injury will prevent me from winning another Downhill World Cup,” regretted the 2018 Olympic champion. “But I will get back up!”
Too many injuries
Although she has won the Downhill Globe for the last three winters, Sofia Goggia has both victories and injuries. Last year, she broke her hand in St. Moritz, which did not prevent her from winning the second downhill race in the Engadine after a return trip to the hospital in Milan. A year earlier, the Lombard skier had violently fallen in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Hit in the knee, she completed a time trial race to return in time for the Beijing Olympic Games and win silver in the downhill behind Corinne Suter. In 2021, she had to abandon the World Championships at home in Cortina d’Ampezzo, after fracturing the tibial plateau of her right leg a few days earlier, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. His list of accidents also includes torn cruciate ligaments in both knees in 2010, then those in his right knee in 2014.
A cursed season
Sofia Goggia adds to the list of too many injured in recent weeks after seeing Petra Vlhova, Corinne Suter, Nina Ortlieb and Valérie Grenier put an end to their season. Joana Hählen, Michelle Gisin and World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin were also affected to varying degrees and have not yet been able to return to competition.
JT/LMO