Cornelia Huetter and Federica Brignone tied for first place in a World Cup super-G on Sunday, in the final race before the Beijing Olympics.
Brignone looked certain to secure a third super-G win of the season after a dominant performance from start to finish on the Kandahar course but the Italian was in for an anxious wait as Huetter — who had been 0.18 seconds slower at the second checkpoint — made up time in the second half of the course.
Brignone could only smile and shake her head in disbelief as Huetter crossed the line with exactly the same time of 1:18.19.
It was a 19th World Cup win for Brignone but only a third for Huetter, whose last victory was a downhill in Lake Louise, Canada, in December 2017.
Huetter’s Austrian teammate, Tamara Tippler was third fastest, 0.82 behind the duo.
Canada’s Marie-Michèle Gagnon finished 1.77 seconds back of the golden duo, taking 21st-place overall. Gagnon’s teammate, Roni Remme, was a full two seconds back for 27th.
With the start of the Winter Olympics looming, several top contenders skipped the races in Garmisch, including overall rivals Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova, and world super-G champion Lara Gut-Behrami.
Sofia Goggia, who won two super-G races this season, is injured.
Out of the top 10 skiers in the overall standings, only Brignone, Corinne Suter and Elena Curtoni raced.
With the win, Brignone extended her lead at the top of the super-G standings, which Italy dominates. Brignone has a 103-point lead over Curtoni and is 145 ahead of Goggia.
The Beijing Games open Feb. 4 and the women’s super-G is scheduled for Feb. 11.
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