Italy's Laura Pirovano won her second consecutive World Cup downhill race on Saturday in Val di Fassa, beating Austria's Cornelia Huetter by 0.01 seconds and taking the lead in the discipline standings from injured American Lindsey Vonn. The 28-year-old Italian's victory on home snow came after her first career win the previous day. Vonn, sidelined by a leg injury from last month's Olympics, saw her points total of 400 hold but no longer sufficient for the top spot.
In Val di Fassa, Italy, on March 7, 2026, Laura Pirovano secured back-to-back World Cup downhill victories, her second triumph coming by the narrow margin of 0.01 seconds ahead of Cornelia Huetter of Austria. Switzerland's Corinne Suter finished third, 0.05 seconds behind Pirovano, while United States' Breezy Johnson placed fourth, 0.64 seconds off the pace. This result propelled Pirovano to the top of the downhill standings with 436 points, 28 ahead of Germany's Emma Aicher, who finished 12th on Saturday after placing second the day before. One downhill race remains on March 21 in Kvitfjell, Norway.
Pirovano, who had never podiumed in 124 prior World Cup starts, described the weekend as surreal. "It's even more incredible than yesterday, I can't take it in," she said. "The margin of one hundredth, twice in a row. I think it's payback for all those times the hundredths went against me."
Lindsey Vonn, 41, had led the standings since the season's start with two wins and five podiums in five races, pursuing a ninth downhill title. However, a crash at the Milano Cortina Olympics last month, which wrecked her left leg, ended her season prematurely. In an Instagram post before the race, Vonn reflected: "Winning the title was my goal... and I came painfully close to achieving it. I clawed my way back to #1 in the world after being retired for six years with a partial knee replacement... I just wish I had a chance to fight until the end."
Vonn's 400 points keep her in contention, with Germany's Kira Weidle-Winkelmann at 351, Huetter at 344, and Johnson at 333. In the overall standings, American Mikaela Shiffrin maintains a lead of 1,133 points to Aicher's 1,016, with seven races left, including a super-G on Sunday that Shiffrin may enter. Friday's race in Val di Fassa, a replacement for a canceled event in Crans-Montana, saw Pirovano win by 0.01 over Aicher, with Johnson third.
