By Simon Evans
YANQING, China (Reuters) – Women’s downhill Olympic champion Corinne Suter said she turned to video clips of American skier Lindsey Vonn for inspiration ahead of her gold-medal winning run on Wednesday which gave Switzerland a rare downhill double.
Suter achieved what Vonn couldn’t manage in Pyeongchang four years ago by beating Italian Sofia Goggia to clinch gold and the Swiss said she had spent the early morning pre-race time drawing inspiration from Vonn, who won the downhill gold in 2010.
“She’s my biggest idol,” said Suter, “She is one of the best skiers of all time.”
In the hours before Wednesday’s race Suter said she focused on how the American, who retired from professional skiing in 2019, had approached her training runs as well as her most famous victories.
“I just like how she skied with her body and how aggressive she made the turns,” she added.
Suter’s victory means she joins Vonn as the only woman to have won Olympic downhill gold while being the reigning world champion.
Remarkably for someone with that record, Suter has just two World Cup downhill victories but she struggled to explain how she manages to rise to the occasion in major events.
“I just try to ski like always, it is always special in the worlds or Olympics, I was more nervous than normal. After (finishing 13th in) the super-G I told myself to just try to be normal in this race,” she said.
“For me it is one of the best feelings, to win gold in the Olympics is a really big dream. I am super happy.”
Suter’s triumph matches compatriot Beat Feuz’s win in the men’s downhill. The Swiss team has four golds in Beijing’s Alpine races so far and sits atop the sport’s medal table.
“I think at the moment we have a really good team spirit,” Suter said.
“I am always happy if someone is fast and in our group everyone is super-fast and we can push each other to the limits.”
(Reporting by Simon Evans, editing by Richard Pullin)
