Corinne Suter celebrated the first world title of her career ©Getty Images

Swiss success continued at the International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine World Ski Championships as Corinne Suter earned a maiden world title in the women’s downhill event at Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Suter had claimed silver in the women’s super-G event two days ago, finishing behind compatriot Lara Gut-Behrami at the Italian resort.

The 26-year-old was seeking to improve on the downhill silver medal she claimed two years ago, when the World Championships were held in Åre in Sweden.

Suter, who has two downhill World Cup podium finishes this season, achieved a time of 1min 34.27sec to move to the top of the leaderboard.

Germany’s Kira Weidle went closest to challenging Suter, as she ended 0.2sec off the pace to secure the silver medal.

The second-place finish was Weidle’s first podium finish in a downhill event since 2019.

Gut-Behrami added to Switzerland’s medal haul by winning bronze in a time of 1:34.64.

She had been on course to secure gold, but lost time in the final section of the race to ultimately finish third.

Corinne Suter triumphed in the women's downhill event ©Getty Images
Corinne Suter triumphed in the women's downhill event ©Getty Images

"My run was really good," said Suter afterwards.

"I did what I wanted, what I needed to give me the space and take the speed with me.

"I am super happy."

The downhill event was missing the absent Sofia Goggia, with the Italian star having been ruled out of a home World Championships after recently damaging her right knee in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany.

Goggia had been the in-form downhill skier this season and currently tops the World Cup standings in the discipline.

Attention will turn to the men’s downhill competition tomorrow, where Beat Feuz will hope to continue Switzerland’s strong start to the World Championships.