Alpine skiing: Goggia second in Garmisch on return from injury

[January 26, 2019]  (Reuters) - Olympic downhill champion Sofia Goggia celebrated her return from a broken ankle by finishing second in the Super G at Garmisch on Saturday.

The Italian, injured during training before the first race of the season in Soelden in October, finished 0.23 seconds behind winner Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria in the weather-delayed race.

Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami was third, a further 0.45 seconds behind.

Americans Lindsey Vonn and runaway championship leader Mikaela Shiffrin both missed the race.

Vonn, widely-regarded as the best women's skier of all time, said last week that she might retire immediately after suffering knee pain during the Super G at Cortina.

On Wednesday, she said she was hopeful that she could ski again but would not be racing in Garmisch.

Sofia Goggia, Italy, in action. TT NEWS AGENCY/Pontus Lundahl via REUTERS/File Photo

Shiffrin, the runaway overall World Cup leader this season, decided to sit out this weekend's races to prepare for the world championships in Are, Sweden, in February.

(Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Toby Davis)

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