Flury wins first World Cup downhill to lead Swiss 1-2

Having recently declared that she had learned from her stunning world championship title earlier this year, Jasmine Flury (SUI) turned words into action by winning her first World Cup downhill race in Val d'Isère on Saturday.

Flury led a surprise Swiss 1-2 down the 'OK' course on a glorious day in the French Alps, finishing ahead of teammate Joana Haehlen (SUI, +0.22s), with Cornelia Huetter (AUT, +0.24s) in third.

With Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) absent and Sofia Goggia (ITA, fourth) under the weather, Flury swooped in for her second World Cup win, following a super-G triumph six years ago in St. Moritz, and her third podium.

"After the world championship, now to win also a World Cup race, it takes a little bit of pressure again off me and I'm just really happy," she said.

Flury, one of the athletes profiled in a FIS Alpine feature article earlier this week about striving for consistency on the World Cup tour, has not always been able to produce her best form on a weekly basis.

Even after her world championship downhill triumph in Méribel in February, she finished no higher than 14th in the next four World Cup downhill races prior to Saturday, but her confidence never wavered.

"I am optimistic, that I have learned a lot from my 'almost perfect' run that I showed in Méribel," Flury said in the article.

"I proved that I can do it: I can be the fastest woman on Alpine skis."

The 30-year-old proved it again on Saturday, racing with bib No.6 and registering green lights at every split despite an awkward landing off the tunnel jump in the lower mid-section of the course.

"It was a wild run," Flury admitted. "It was really tricky, the slope was a little bit more bumpy than yesterday and I just tried to have a good pressure on the outside ski and go until the finish line."

With most of the pre-race favourites skiing after her, however, it seemed unlikely that Flury's early lead would hold up.

But none of those top seeds even managed to reach the podium, with triple defending World Cup downhill champion Goggia closest at 0.44 seconds off the pace as she tried to shake off a cold.

Haehlen (bib No.2) and Huetter (No.4) also took advantage of a relatively clean track to reach the podium, with Haehlen equalling her career-best World Cup result in any discipline by finishing second for the third time.

"It's perfect, to share the podium with Jasmine is what you dream when you're a young racer," she said.

Remarkably, Haehlen skied her run after discovering a broken zipper in her racing suit when she about to move into the start gate.

"It started a bit stressful because my zipper on my suit broke just 30 seconds before it started," she explained. "Then I asked my technician, 'Can you fix it?' And he said, 'No, it's impossible,' and I was like, 'No, help me, help me, help me!'"

It turned out that the wardrobe malfunction was all the help Haehlen needed, as it lifted the weight of expectation off her shoulders.

"I was so in race mode and really went for it," she said.

Like Flury, Huetter also had a shaky landing off the tunnel jump but otherwise skied a relatively clean run to reach her second podium in just over a week after her second place finish in last Friday's super-G in St. Moritz.

"I never thought about the podium today," said Huetter, who did not think her time would hold up and admitted she was hoping merely for a top 10 result.

"The skiing was not that good but I think today it was so difficult to ski smooth and nice. It was way more faster than yesterday and the gates are coming really fast," she said.

"I think it was a really tough and really hard downhill race today."

Click here for full results from Saturday's race.

This week's feature article focusing on four skiers, including Jasmine Flury: 'Recipe for success': striving for consistency on the Alpine skiing World Cup tour.