Surprise winners light up alpine skiing World Cup a day after crashes

Norway's Ragnhild Mowinckel and Frenchman Nils Allegre showed that the favourites do not always win in alpine skiing after going down late but still prevailing in downhill and super-G races on Saturday.

Allegre's shock win in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen super-G was his first ever in the World Cup aged 30. "What happened? I dont know," he told ZDF after putting his hands to his helmet in surprise when crossing the line.

Italy's Sofia Goggia, Olympic downhill champion in 2018 and a four-time World Cup downhill globe winner, looked set for another downhill victory in front of her home crowd in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

She had won three times on the Tofana piste, including last season, and was poised for a 25th World Cup victory overall.

But after a long break due to wind, Mowinckel stunned everyone by going down 20th and pipping Goggia. American Jacqueline Wiles, with bib number 26, even knocked Goggia into third with another incredible run to trail Mowinckel by 0.35 seconds.

Stephanie Venier of Austria, who had won Friday's race, placed fifth. Goggia at least extended her discipline lead.

It was Mowinckel's fourth World Cup victory, and first ever in downhill, although the 31-year-old had hinted at her love for Cortina by winning a super-G there last year.

Friday's downhill on the same course saw injuries to World Cup champion and leader Mikaela Shiffrin and Switzerland's 2022 Olympic champion Corinne Suter.

Shiffrin injured her knee in a crash into the netting and said she will miss at least the rest of this weekend and Tuesday's giant salom in Kronplatz.

Ligament tears were ruled out by tests in hospital but it was bad news for Suter, whose season is over after a cruciate tear following a bad landing after a jump.

There have been a raft of serious crashes this season, including on Saturday, although no major names needed to go to hospital this time.

Just two weeks ago, Shiffrin's boyfriend and Norway's top star Aleksander Aamodt Kilde suffered a serious crash during a downhill World Cup race in Wengen, Switzerland.

Pundits have blamed a packed schedule and global warming causing less snow for the flurry of recent crashes.

In the Bavarian resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Allegre won on a foggy Kandahar course from fellow outsider Guglielmo Bosca of Italy and Switzerland's Loic Meillard. Overall and discipline leader Marco Odermatt was only fourth.