Mowinckel wins wind-affected Cortina downhill ahead of Wiles, Goggia

Norwegian skier Ragnhild Mowinckel kept her focus to win a wind-affected World Cup downhill after a series of crashes and delays marked the race Saturday.

Racing on the course that will be used for the Milan-Cortina Olympics in two years, Mowinckel finished 0.35 seconds ahead of American racer Jacqueline Wiles and 0.44 ahead of home favourite Sofia Goggia.

It was Mowinckel's fourth career World Cup victory and her first since winning a super-G in Cortina a year ago. Mowinckel also won silver medals in downhill and giant slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics before missing the entire 2019-20 season because of a serious knee injury.

Goggia also finished third Friday in the first of two downhills on the Olympia delle Tofane course. Valérie Grenier of St. Isidore, Ont., did not finish as the only Canadian in the mix.

The last six downhills have now been won by six different women: Kajsa Vickhoff Lie, Ilka Stuhec, Mikaela Shiffrin, Jasmine Flury, Goggia and Mowinckel.

Shiffrin is out of action for several days at least after crashing on Friday. Initial medical reports suggested that the holder of a record 95 World Cup wins avoided serious injury.

There were more crashes on Saturday, with Shiffrin's and Wiles' teammate Bella Wright sustaining some bruises and a cut on her chin after she went down.

Wright was airlifted off the course but later returned to the finish area with bandages on her chin and in time to take part in the celebration for Wiles' result.

"Just a little chin laceration, no biggie," the U.S. Ski Team said on X with a photo of Wright giving a thumbs-up.

WATCH l Wright crashes hard on windy Cortina d'Ampezzo:

Racing was suspended several times for long periods as organizers waited for the wind to die