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It’ll mostly be remembered in the future by the maiden triumph of Germany’s Emma Aicher who confirmed her immense talent beating all the top favorites in the second downhill after finishing a superb 2nd the previous day behind Austria’s top specialist Cornelia Huetter.

The new World Champion Breezy Johnson was 3rd on Friday ahead of Goggia while USA’s Lauren Macuga was 2nd on Saturday in front of Huetter and Brignone, who retained her lead in the downhill standings by only 16 points on the Austrian veteran. In Sunday’s Super-G, Italy’s overall World Cup leader celebrated her eighth season win ahead of Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami, the leading Super-G skier this winter. Sofia Goggia came in 3rd, only a few hundredths ahead of New Zealand’s giant slalom specialist Alice Robinson.

A frustrating 4th at Saalbach 2024 only 13/100 adrift from Ester Ledecka’s 3rd place, Cornelia Huetter was eager to fight back and confirm her potential at Kvitfjell. A winner in nine World Cup races in her career including in the first downhill this winter at Beaver Creek, Colorado, and then in Super-G at St. Moritz, the 32-year-old found back her best rhythm on the Olimpiabakke course after already clocking fast times in training. “I really like racing on this course, I had some good results here on the Europa Cup tour at the beginning of my career and I even won a Super-G two years ago,” the defending downhill World Cup champion said after the race. “It’s very important for me to end the season on a better note after going through some difficult moments in recent weeks,” Cornelia added. “It’s great to remain in the hunt for the downhill globe.”

In the same time, the women’s tour lived quite exhilarating days with Emma Aicher’s amazing success in both downhills, allowing her team to enjoy the first triumph of the season – and the first in downhill in five years, since Viktoria Rebensburg’s win at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in February 2020! Katja Seizinger, who clinched Olympic gold here back in 1994, was the last German to excel here two years later during the 1996 Finals.

Aicher, who didn’t score a single point in downhill this winter, had a hard time to fully comprehend what was going on afterwards. “This is unbelievable, I didn’t expect this to happen in downhill, but I had good feelings on this nice course which has a nice flow,” the 21-year-young Emma said after the race. “I was confident after the training and able to follow my plan from top to bottom. I thought I would get earlier onto the podium in slalom, but I’m very happy it happened now in downhill,” added Aicher who started with the high bib 27 on Saturday!

An Olympic silver medal winner in the team event in China three years ago, Emma Aicher already showed at Saalbach 2025 that she could be fast in the speed events as she came in 6th in both downhill and Super-G races. Her 6th place in the recent slalom at Sestriere also shows her versatility which should help her to soon fight for top positions in the overall World Cup. “I like to race in all the specialties, it makes it more interesting for me and I hope to continue doing it for a while,” also explained Aicher who grew up in Sundsvall, in Sweden before moving to Switzerland and Germany with her parents. She skied for Sweden at the start of her racing career as her mother is Swedish, before entering the German team in 2020. So far, Emma has qualified in three of the four alpine specialties for the upcoming Finals at Sun Valley, USA, as she is ranked among the best 25 athletes in downhill, Super-G and slalom.

Sofia Goggia was delighted with her 3rd place in Sunday’s Super-G after finishing 4th and 6th in the previous downhill races.

It was her first top-3 result in the specialty since St.Moritz last December. Her recent 4th place in giant slalom at Sestriere already confirmed her strong form in the final part of the season.

“I’m feeling good now and I’m happy to get onto the podium today after missing it on Friday by only 4/100, it has been quite a tricky course set today,” she told the press. “I didn’t have such a good feeling crossing the finish line, so I was surprised to have reached the podium despite all those mistakes here and there. It gives me much confidence for the next competitions,” also commented Sofia who is now 3rd in the overall World Cup rankings clearly led by Federica Brignone.

It has also been a glorious day for Alice Robinson who skied for the first time among the top-10 in Super-G since being 9th here a year ago. The GS silver medalist at Saalbach 2025 missed her first podium in the specialty by only 13/100, but it didn’t prevent her from being very satisfied with her performance. “It’s nice to equal my best performance in the specialty, I’m trying hard to improve my level,” said Alice who was 4th in a Super-G St.Moritz in December 2021.

“I have been racing under my potential in that specialty this season so I wanted to be a little braver today. It has really been a great season for me so far and I’m looking forward to keep on fighting with Federica Brignone for the GS globe in the next weeks,” added the racer from “Down Under” who has a lead of 40 points on the Italian before the next race at Are.

Lindsey Vonn, on her way to the podium in Sunday’s Super-G before making a major mistake in the last big left turns leading to the final part of the course, was rather satisfied with her results during her Norwegian week. “It’s my first time on this slope, but I greatly enjoyed being her,” she said. “I am definitely progressing in my search of the best set-up for my equipment and I showed today that I am still able to fight for the podium,” the skier from Colorado said. “It’ll still take some time but I’m optimistic about my future. It has been a nice week here with my teammates who are skiing so well, it’s very motivating for me,” also explained the four-time overall World Cup champion who will now do more equipment testing in Austria before returning home to compete in front of her home crowd at the Finals in Sun Valley.

The Norwegian athletes were not able to celebrate great accomplishment during this Norwegian week of racing as Kajsa Lie, the downhill winner here two years ago, could not do better than 5th in Super-G on Sunday, while her teammate Marte Monsen was 7th in the second downhill just behind Sofia Goggia. They will for sure try to do better next year on the occasion of the World Cup Finals scheduled in the region in March 2026.

Stein B.