Andorran Skier Roger Puig Hits Career-Best 4th in World Cup Downhill

Andorran para-alpine skier Roger Puig delivered his career-best performance on Thursday, finishing fourth in the second World Cup downhill at Santa Caterina, Italy. Starting with bib number 13 among 25 competitors, the 27-year-old posted the seventh-fastest time in the first sector, improved to sixth in the second, and clocked the fourth-quickest split in the final stretch. He reached a peak speed of 117 km/h, staying just off the podium.

This followed Puig's ninth-place finish in Wednesday's opening downhill, where he recorded 1:10.54—2.65 seconds behind winner Robin Cuche of Switzerland—despite snowfalls and poor visibility. Starting 11th among 27 entrants, Puig took fifth in the opening sector and held a strong pace through the middle before a minor error on the final wall dropped him to ninth, securing his 22nd career top-10 result and 29 World Cup points.

The back-to-back results lifted Puig to provisional sixth in the overall standings with 127 points. He ranks seventh in combined alpine events (36 points), eighth in super-G (62 points), and ninth in downhill (29 points).

Puig had posted ninth in Tuesday's official training (1:10.02, 2.43 seconds off Cuche), climbing from 15th in the first sector to ninth in the second and sixth in the final. The Santa Caterina double-header builds on his season-opening outing in Austria last week as he targets Paralympic progress.