Magnificent Marco Odermatt! The Nidwalden won the Val Gardena downhill ahead of his compatriot Franjo von Allmen. With this 40th victory, “Odi” equals Pirmin Zurbriggen on the World Cup list.
The three-time winner of the big crystal globe brilliantly tamed this Saslong track which still refused him. Four times on the podium on the Italian track – again Friday during the super-G -, this time he had a perfect race to bring Switzerland a success awaited since 2011 in Val Gardena (Beat Feuz in super-G).
In much better conditions than the day before, Odermatt was certainly slower than his teammate Franjo von Allmen on the sliding portion, but showed remarkable agility in the Ciaslat, the most technical sector of the Dolomites track. .
This 40th World Cup victory, his 3rd of the season after those in super-G at Beaver Creek and in giant at Val d'Isère, allows him to equal Pirmin Zurbriggen as the most decorated Swiss skier in the World Cup among the gentlemen. However, he reached this mark with a month and a half more on the clock than Zurbriggen, who had also put away his skis a few months after his last victory in 1990, at “only” 27 years old.
Second podium for von Allmen
Franjo von Allmen, who is only experiencing his 3rd winter in the World Cup, saved his 2nd place (+0''45) by a hair and climbed onto the box for the 2nd time in his career after a 3rd place in Garmisch last winter. The 23-year-old Bernese beat the American Ryan Cochran-Siegle, 3rd, by a hundredth and the Frenchman Nils Allègre, 4th, by 2 hundredths.
Two other Swiss finished in the top-15: Stefan Rogentin (10th, +0”68) and Lars Rösti (12th, +0”76). Surprising 8th Friday, the latter could even have created a huge surprise if he had not made a big mistake in the Ciaslat. Livio Hiltbrand (17th, +1''05, at the same time as Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin), Josua Mettler (24th, +1''14) and Justin Murisier (29th, +1''27) finished further back .
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