
Priska Ming-Nufer secures the last Swiss starting place in the second training session for the World Championship downhill. Lara Gut-Behrami and Corinne Suter are the best-ranked Swiss-Ski racers.
With 9th place, Ming-Nufer clearly won the duel between two women from Obwalden and Michelle Gisin. She distanced her team-mate, who finished in 27th place, by 1.38 seconds. This will be Ming-Nufer's second time in a World Championship downhill. Two years ago in Méribel, Savoie, she finished 11th and, like Gisin, only half of the selection criteria for this year's World Championships - one ranking in the top 7 or two rankings in the top 15 - were met. In Beaver Creek, Colorado, she finished 14th.
Gut-Behrami, who was fastest in the first training session the day before, and Suter were ranked 4th and 5th in the rankings, indicating that they could be in contention for the medals on Saturday.
Mirjam Puchner set the fastest time in the second training session. The Austrian, who was involved in the team-internal qualification, distanced her first pursuer, the American Breezy Johnson, by 73 hundredths. Gut-Behrami and Suter lost just over a second. Malorie Blanc, who completes the Swiss quartet in the downhill, still has room for improvement. The high-flyer from Valais was 3.7 seconds behind Puchner.