The China Mail - Pirovano takes downhill at Val di Fassa for first World Cup win

The 28-year-old, who is in her ninth season on the circuit, edged out Emma Aicher by just 0.01 seconds, while Olympic and world champion Breezy Johnson had to make do with third, 0.29 seconds off the pace.

It is just reward for Pirovano, who has been amongst the most consistent downhill performers, albeit without previously reaching the podium.

This season, she had scored three top-five finishes in the World Cup, including fourth place in the downhill at Zauchensee, Austria in early January, her best result ever on the circuit until Friday.

At the 2026 Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Pirovano finished fifth in the super-G and sixth in the downhill.

If one Italian was all smiles, another was not: Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Goggia, who was hoping to get back into the race for the downhill crystal globe, was well off the pace, finishing down in 16th.

American Lindsey Vonn, who suffered a set of fractures in her left leg in a horror crash at the 2026 Olympics that ended her season and likely her career, remains top of the downhill World Cup standings with 400 points.

But with two downhill races remaining, German Aicher is now just 14 points behind the American on 386 with Pirovano on 336. Goggia has dropped to seventh place with 255 points.

Mikaela Shiffrin, who does not compete in speed events, is still in charge of the overall World Cup standings with 1,133 points although Aicher has closed the gap to 139 points.

This downhill was originally scheduled to take place in Crans-Montana (Switzerland) at the end of January, but it was called off due to bad weather conditions.

A second downhill is scheduled for Saturday on the Volata in Val di Fassa, followed by a super-G on Sunday.

The final downhill will take place at the World Cup finals in Kvitfjell, Norway on March 21.

S.Wilson--ThChM