Alpine Skiing - FIS Alpine Ski World Cup - Women's Downhill - Soldeu, Andorra - March 15, 2023 Slovenia's Ilka Stuhec celebrates on the podium after winning the women's downhill alongside second place Italy's Sofia Goggia and third place Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami as they display plaques REUTERS/Albert Gea
(Reuters) - Slovenia's Ilka Stuhec won the last women's downhill race of the season at the Alpine Ski World Cup Finals in Soldeu, Andorra on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old took the title ahead of the season's Crystal Globe winner Sofia Goggia in second and Lara Gut-Behrami in third.
"It means a lot actually, because this time last year I was thinking, should I go on, what do I do with my life?," Stuhec said.
"Then I went with my instincts and said to myself, okay, I'll change things and move on, because I still had the feeling that I could do it and now everybody knows," she added.
Stuhec's aggressive run gave her a 0.51-second advantage over Italian Goggia who lifted her fourth Globe.
"I'm happy, four downhill Globes are not few and today I'm finishing with a good race," said Goggia.
"This season we've raced nine downhills and when you finish saying I've won five and crashed in one and my worst result was a second place," she added.
With five wins and three second places, the Italian remains fifth in the standings, with American Mikaela Shiffrin, who last weekend claimed the 87th win of her career, on top.
After her record-breaking victory, Shiffrin opted not to compete in the downhill. She will be back in action for the next three individual events of the Finals, starting with Thursday's women's super-G.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City, editing by Ed Osmond)
