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| - Olympic champion Sofia Goggia will return from a knee injury in the final downhill race of the season at Lenzerheide, Switzerland next week, the Italian ski federation announced on Sunday. The 28-year-old, who leads the World Cup downhill standings, suffered a fracture of the tibial plateau of the right knee on January 31, and missed the world championships at home in Cortina d'Ampezzo last month. Goggia will take part in training on Monday and Tuesday in Lenzerheide with a view to participating in the midweek race, the Italian federation confirmed. "She obtained the agreement of the Federation's medical commission to take part in the two training sessions," the federation said. Goggia said she had been reassured after three training sessions in the last few days in Livigno, Italy. "I didn't feel any pain," she said. "I have no pretensions. I will do the tests at Lenzerheide like for all the other competitions and then we will see if the conditions are met to race. "Physically I'm doing everything I have to do in this kind of situation. "It will be a downhill like many others, I think I have gone through worse tests in the past in my career." Goggia currently has a 70-point lead in the World Cup downhill standings over Swiss Corinne Suter. A victory carries 100 points meaning the Italian would have to finish at least eighth (32 points) if Sutter were to win on Wednesday, or at least 15th if the Swiss skier finishes second. Goggia won four of the first five downhills of the season before hurting her knee as she descended the slope after the women's Super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany was cancelled because of fog. She had been pessimistic about a return this season, stating she believed "it would take a miracle" to be able to compete at Lenzerheide. ea/dmc
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