The World and Olympic Breakthrough of Sofia Goggia
Sofia Goggia is a very talented alpine skier, who made a breakthrough just a couple of seasons ago. Despite all the obstacles on her way, she went to her aims with no doubts and, finally, her efforts were awarded. Let’s follow the Italian athlete’s path to success.
Career Start
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Sofia Goggia was born on November 15, 1992, in Bergamo, Italy. She started to ski at the age of 3 after seeing her brother skiing and asking her parents to allow her to do the same. Despite having several serious injuries, the athlete didn’t stop doing sports and fight her way to the most prestigious alpine skiing awards.
In 2009, Sofia was selected for the National Team in alpine skiing. But then, no one knew that the girl will become the first Italian alpine skier to have secured podium finishes at World Cup events in four different skiing disciplines.
International Competitions
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Sofia Goggia started her international career with competing at the European Cup in 2008. However, she neither qualified nor finished at all the events till 2010, when she took the 25th place.
In 2013, Sofia took part in her first World Championships. She showed the best result in Super-G, finishing 4th. She was also 7th in combined and 22nd in downhill. At 2017 World Championships, the skier became a bronze medalist in giant slalom. That year, she finished 4th in downhill and 10th in Super-G.
Goggia debuted at the World Cup in 2011 Lienz, but she didn’t qualify for the final. At 2016 Killington giant slalom event, she rose to her first podium, winning a bronze medal. At 2017 Jeongseon, the athlete gained her first victories in downhill and Super-G.
In total, Sofia won 5 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals. In 2017/18 season, she won the overall downhill title, being a silver medalist in this discipline in 2016/17. Also, in 2016/17 season, she was an overall bronze medalist of the World Cup and a bronze medalist in giant slalom.
Winter Olympics
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Being a debutant of Winter Olympic Games in 2018 PyeongChang, Sofia Goggia managed to claim gold in downhill, finishing the race in 1:39.22. She also finished 11th in giant slalom and super-G.
The athlete shared that she wanted to beat Lindsay Vonn, who is one of the greatest alpine skiers in the world: “I came here with one goal -- to beat Lindsey. This was good, but here I realized that though this duel was really good, it wouldn't have helped me out so much because I have to be focused on myself”.
At the same time, Sofia admitted that Vonn is a really great athlete: “She has 81 victories, I have four - five with this. She's unbelievable. She's acting like it's normal, it's easy. She's the greatest and she's had a wonderful career -- and she's still having that because it's not over. The battle with her is still going on”.
So, it’s obvious that Sofia Goggia improves her skills day by day and gradually turns from an ordinary alpine skier into one of the best ones. She is already a national hero in Italy and much more is ahead.
