Nufer gets breakout WC downhill win at 30

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — If Swiss skier Priska Nufer was going to have a breakout success at age 30, it surely was going to be on home snow at Crans-Montana.

Nufer won a World Cup downhill on Sunday — her first podium place in close to 150 races — finishing just ahead of three Olympic gold medalists.

On a sun-bathed south-facing slope, Nufer was 0.11 seconds faster than Ester Ledecka, who won the downhill on Saturday. Sofia Goggia was third, 0.23 behind Nufer, and new Olympic downhill champion Corinne Suter was fourth, 0.27 back.

Mikaela Shiffrin skipped the back-to-back downhills and the American star’s rival in the overall World Cup standings, Petra Vlhova, took advantage to pull even in their points totals by placing 16th.

In a 10-year World Cup career, Nufer never finished in the top five until placing fourth on Saturday on the Mont Lachaux course where she thrives.

Nufer now has eight career top-10 finishes in World Cup races and six have been at Crans-Montana.

Though Nufer went to the Beijing Olympics, she was not selected in the four-woman Swiss team for the downhill or super-G speed races. They were won by Nufer’s teammates Suter and Lara Gut-Behrami, respectively.

Gut-Behrami, who failed to finish on Saturday, was outside the top 15 Sunday more than one second behind Nufer.

Wearing start bib No. 37, American Isabella Wright got a career-best 10th-place finish, trailing by 0.55. Her teammates Jaqueline Wiles and Alix Wilkinson were both outside of the top 30.

Goggia extended her lead over Suter in the season-long downhill standings with one race left, on March 16 at Courchevel, France, during the World Cup finals meet.

The women’s World Cup circuit stays in Switzerland next week for super-G and giant slalom races at Lenzerheide.

RESULTS

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