1ST LEAD Goggia wins Italy's first women's Olympic downhill gold,

Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Sofia Goggia won Italy‘s first-ever women‘s Olympic downhill gold, while crowd favourite Lindsey Vonn had to settle for bronze on Wednesday in Pyeongchang. Olympic first-timer Goggia finished in 1 minute 39.22 seconds, just 0.09 seconds ahead of Norway‘s Ragnhild Mowinckel, to pick up her debut Olympic medal, and Italy‘s first gold in alpine skiing at the Games. Starting in 19th spot, Mowinckel made a daring late run for gold, but had to settle for silver, her second in Pyeongchang after finishing runner-up in the giant slalom on Thursday.But all eyes were on US skier Vonn, the 2010 downhill gold medallist, who had said ahead of Wednesday‘s race that it was "99.9 per cent" certain that she would not reach another Games after South Korea.The bronze medal in her pet event is the third Olympic medal of a storied career plagued by injury, including 81 World Cup wins.Vonn, 33, and Goggia, 25, have been neck and neck this season on the World Cup tour. In the last two downhill races in Germany‘s Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Goggia finished second behind Vonn, but the Italian is ahead on downhill points. Eight racers failed to finish Wednesday‘s race, including Switzerland‘s Lara Gut, a medal contender, and Italy‘s Federica Brignone, who won bronze in the giant slalom.