Consistent Suter gets 1st World Cup win in foggy downhill

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:34 a.m. ET

ALTENMARKT-ZAUCHENSEE, Austria (AP) — Corinne Suter’s consistent year in downhill racing finally earned her a first World Cup win on Saturday.

Suter defied poor visibility in a race twice delayed to finish 0.29 seconds ahead of Nicol Delago. Suter’s Swiss teammate, Michelle Gisin, was third, 0.98 back, two weeks after also placing third in a World Cup slalom.

“I was just in awe watching her down in the finish," Gisin said of Suter's run immediately after her own. "That’s really cool.”

Olympic downhill champion Sofia Goggia was fourth, 1.01 back, starting immediately after the second delay for fog.

Mikaela Shiffrin, the overall World Cup standings leader, skipped the race. She will start wearing bib No. 21 in an alpine combined event on Sunday which adds a super-G time to one slalom run. Gisin, the Olympic champion, will also be favored.

Suter’s first top-tier race victory was predicted after being among the most reliable downhill racers over the last year.

She won a silver medal at the world championships last February, when Lindsey Vonn took bronze in her career farewell, then finished the World Cup season with two third-place finishes.

“After the world championships it took a lot of pressure from me,” Suter said. "Since then I can ski again with a lot of fun. This is the reason why I am so fast at the moment.”

The Swiss was second and fifth in the two previous downhills this season, both held at Lake Louise, Canada.

Attacking on an overcast day, Suter mastered the Altenmarkt course despite clocking only the seventh-best speed of 125 kph (78 mph) at the fastest check.

Suter leads the season-long downhill standings from Ester Ledecka. The double Olympic champion in alpine super-G and snowboarding placed eighth on Saturday.