Emma Aicher triumphed in the latest women’s super-G event following the Olympics to secure her fifth World Cup victory on Saturday, injecting new energy into the battle for the season’s discipline title. The versatile German skier excelled in the first two sections of the Aliga course in Soldeu, Andorra, clocking the fastest split times and becoming the first athlete with multiple super-G wins this season.
Expressing her satisfaction, Aicher shared, “It feels pretty good, to be honest. I had really fun skiing today.” Despite not finishing the super-G at the recent Milan Cortina Games after claiming silver in the downhill and team combined events, Aicher finished 0.88 seconds ahead of Alice Robinson from New Zealand. Robinson’s second-place finish narrowed the gap to World Cup super-G leader Sofia Goggia to 20 points with three events remaining, including one scheduled for the following day on the same slope.
Italy’s Sofia Goggia trailed Aicher by 1.32 seconds, landing in sixth place, while Canadian Val Grenier from St. Isidore, Ontario, secured the 20th spot overall. Robinson, who previously won the season-opening super-G in Switzerland last December, expressed her pride in achieving a podium finish, stating, “I feel really proud of myself for getting the most out of the sections I knew I could ski fast. It’s really nice to be back on the podium.”
Corinne Suter, the winner of Friday’s downhill race, followed closely in third place, trailing Aicher by 0.98 seconds and being the final skier to finish within one second of Aicher’s winning time. Aicher’s flawless performance on the challenging course, with only 37 out of 55 starters completing their runs, was celebrated with a commanding lead at the finish line, surprising her with a nearly nine-tenths of a second advantage.
In an analysis on Lindsey Vonn’s return, despite her recent crash in the Olympic downhill, Aicher reflected on her successful run, surpassing Lindsey Vonn to claim third place in the super-G standings, trailing Goggia by 96 points. Two-time Olympic champion Federica Brignone trailed by over two seconds, struggling with the course’s numerous jumps after skipping Friday’s downhill event. The race was briefly halted due to a serious crash involving Ricarda Haaser, who suffered a fractured tibial plateau in her left knee and was transported for treatment in Austria.
