Skip to main content

Slovenia's Stuhec wins World Cup downhill at Lake Louise

LAKE LOUISE, Alberta (AP) Slovenia's Ilka Stuhec won the season-opening downhill at Lake Louise on Friday for her first World Cup victory.

''It's the first one, but I definitely hope it's not the last one,'' Stuhec said.

The 26-year-old Stuhec finished in 1 minute, 45.48 seconds.

''We did really good training in summer. I was training with our speed guys,'' Stuhec said. ''Every run I could watch how I was supposed to ski and I learned a lot and gained a lot of self confidence. I just had to put it in a race and I did it.''

Italy's Sofia Goggia was second, and Sweden's Kajsa Kling finished third.

''I still can't believe this. This is my second podium in a row in two different disciplines,'' Goggia said. ''It's like, `Hey, what's going on?'''

A second downhill is scheduled Saturday, followed by a super-G on Sunday.

American star Lindsey Vonn, the winner of seven of the previous eight downhills at Lake Louise, sis sidelined after breaking an arm in training last month.

Defending overall World Cup champion Lara Gut of Switzerland finished fourth.

The men's World Cup races scheduled for Lake Louise last week were canceled because temperatures had been too warm to make snow.