An eighth place in the Kitzbühel downhill last January was Monney’s best result in the World Cup to date. In Bormio, the French-speaking Swiss turned the result on its head with start number 19 and took his first victory with a furious ride on the infamous Stelvio, 24 hundredths ahead of his compatriot von Allmen. Cameron Alexander from Canada, who was fastest in training, completed the podium, 0.72 seconds behind. This time, Val Gardena winner Odermatt came in fifth place behind local Italian hero Mattia Casse.
The Austrians, on the other hand, have to continue to wait for a sense of achievement in the form of a podium place in the downhill. Vincent Kriechmayr was the best ÖSV runner in eighth place, 1.12 seconds behind Monney. Stefan Babinsky, the fastest Austrian in the last training session, missed the top ten in 13th place (+1.92 seconds). Daniel Hemetsberger missed the top ten in eleventh place (+ 1.41 seconds). Otmar Striedinger lost almost two and a half seconds to the best time and had to settle for 32nd place. Stefan Eichberger, last sixth in Val Gardena, fell but was uninjured.
Kriechmayr best Austrian
Vincent Kriechmayr was still on course for a top position in the upper part of the Bormio descent, but gradually lost time from the middle part onwards.
Kriechmayr’s eighth place as the best Austrian was the worst red-white-red result so far in Bormio. In the previous 31 runs on the Stelvio, at least one Austrian was always in the top five. An Austrian stood on the top step of the podium in a Bormio downhill 15 times. For comparison: The Swiss not only celebrated their third double victory in the third downhill run of the season, but also brought a total of five runners into the top ten.
“It’s depressing”
The Austrians looked at the results list with corresponding disillusionment. “This is not the result I wanted. I have to look where I lost time. I know it for two corners, I have to analyze the rest. Nine tenths is already a big gap,” said Kriechmayr, who was again badly beaten, in an ORF interview. After a good upper part, the Upper Austrian, who won the downhill in Bormio in 2022, lost a lot of time entering the key Traverse section: “It’s depressing. For the Super-G I have to refocus and learn the lessons from it.”
Babinsky, who also acted a bit like a test pilot with start number one after the many serious crashes in training, also couldn’t find the right line. The accidents on Friday didn’t play a role, said the Styrian: “You try to ignore it, I concentrated on myself. I put everything in. I was partly successful, partly not. You have to attack here unconditionally, you have to be merciless.”
Monney is at a loss for words
How merciless the Swiss downhill skiers are at the moment was not only proven by surprise man Monney on Saturday. The 24-year-old could hardly believe his coup in the ORF interview. “I have no words, it’s unbelievable. I actually thought I was behind because it was too easy. It’s wonderful,” Monney said. The reason for the strong team performance was “Leitwolf” Odermatt, in whose wake it was easy, said the young Swiss: “We have no pressure from the result. We are a young team and are heading in the same direction.”
Odermatt missed the podium this time, but was able to feel like the winner in the end after his skis were cut in the middle section. The Swiss record winner in the World Cup was only able to avoid a serious fall with difficulty: “It happened very quickly. I was good on the line. Then I wanted to change skis and had the cutter. I’ve been very lucky. It was very difficult. It’s a brutal fight, but that’s part of it. Priority number one is to finish here.”
Ryan Cochran-Siegle caused another moment of shock when he was undermined in a small compression in the middle section in a similar way to the Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin in the second training session. In contrast to last year’s Bormio winner, the American appeared to remain uninjured. Cochran-Siegle simply let air out of the inflated airbag and drove to the finish line on his own. The 32-year-old probably only took one or two bruises with him as a “souvenir” from his departure.
Cochran-Siegle is lucky in misfortune
Ryan Cochran-Siegle was thrown off the Stelvio in the middle section but, unlike Cyprien Sarrazin, escaped more or less unscathed in training.
Surgery with Sarrazin went well
Speaking of Sarrizin: The best news came before the race. The 30-year-old, who suffered a serious fall, was successfully operated on in an Italian hospital on Friday evening. The Frenchman suffered a subdural hematoma, a hemorrhage near the brain, in his serious fall on the Stelvio slope. There was danger to life. The doctors decided to carry out the procedure in order to reduce the pressure in the skull.
“The operation went well,” said the French ski association FFS on Saturday. For now, Sarrazin will remain in an artificial deep sleep. The Frenchman, who won in Bormio last year and twice in Kitzbühel later in the season, was not the only victim of the infamous Stelvio during training. The Italian Pietro Zazzi suffered a broken tibia and fibula in a fall, and the Swiss Josua Mettler injured his right knee.
