Alpine World Ski Championships: Jasmine Flury wins women's downhill as Sofia Goggia disqualified

Switzerland's Jasmine Flury was a surprise winner of the women's downhill at the World Ski Championships in Meribel after favourite Sofia Goggia was disqualified.

Italy's Goggia, who leads the World Cup standings after four wins, straddled a gate on the Roc de Fer piste.

But Flury, 29, found the perfect line to finish in one minute 28.03 seconds.

She beat Austria's Nina Ortlieb by 0.04 seconds, while Swiss defending champion Corinne Suter took bronze.

Flury was racing in her third World Championships and had never previously finished in the top 10, while her only World Cup victory came in the super-G in St Moritz in 2017.

"I still can't believe it, it's amazing and also with Corinne on the podium it's unbelievable," said Flury, after finishing 0.12 seconds ahead of team-mate Suter, who is fourth in the World Cup standings after four podiums this season.

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Goggia looked set to beat Flury's time as she targeted a first world title, having taken silver in super-G in 2019 and bronze in giant slalom in 2017.

But the 2018 Olympic champion made a mistake in the lower section of the course and was disqualified after hitting a gate heavily.

"I'm more than disappointed, I'm sorrowful because I won't be able to achieve a medal in this World Championships and this hurts inside," said Goggia, who wore a black armband after the death of former Italian racer Elena Fanchini.

"But sport is this way. People expect you to win easily but that doesn't count. Life goes on and we move to the next races."

The championships continue with the men's downhill in Courchevel on Sunday.