2ND 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 ahead of Norway‘s Ragnhild Mowinckel, to pick up her debut Olympic medal, and Italy‘s first gold in alpine skiing at the Games. "I‘m very proud," Goggia said. "I feel so focused on the day that I haven‘t realized yet what I‘ve done. It‘s about me and my skiing and not the others.""I moved like a samurai. Usually, I‘m really chaotic but I wanted to take in every little detail, every particular in the morning. I believed in myself."After the first 10 racers, Vonn looked set for silver, but Mowinckel made a daring late run for gold, starting 19th and finishing 0.09 seconds behind Goggia. The Norwegian‘s silver medal was 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 the 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."I gave it all today, skied a great race," Vonn said. "Sofia just skied better than I did."I wish I could keep going, I‘m having so much fun and I love what I do, but my body just can‘t take another four years. But I‘m proud to be competing for my country, giving it all and proud to come away with a medal."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 the race, including Switzerland‘s Lara Gut, a medal contender, and Italy‘s Federica Brignone, who won bronze in the giant slalom.