Premiere at 34: Casse is a class Alpine skier in Val Gardena

Friday 20th December 2024 08:08 AM

Mattia Casse was the fastest in the Super-G. © APA/afp / MARCO BERTORELLO

Two years ago, Mattia Casse was on the podium for the first time in his career in Val Gardena. Now the now 34-year-old has gone one better on the Saslong, of all places.

December 20, 2024

From: dl

Mattia Casse had to be 32 years old when he came third on the podium for the first time in the downhill run from Val Gardena in December 2022. Two years later, the Piedmontese won his first World Cup race in the Valley of the Woodcarvers! In the Super-G on Friday, Casse had a dream run as the snow began to fall and distanced himself from top favorite Marco Odermatt by 43 hundredths of a second. The Swiss ended up third.

With start number 10, Casse caught the leaders Stefan Rogentin and Cameron Alexander at the finish by just under 6 tenths. He was already cheering exuberantly. It was already clear to Casse at this point that he had caught every passage optimally. Overall, the speed specialist from Italy achieved his fourth podium place in the World Cup on Friday.

Dominik Paris made a mistake in the middle section. © APA/afp / MARCO BERTORELLO

Dominik Paris also showed a decent performance. In soft conditions, the Ultner was fast on his skis. Paris only deviated from the ideal line in the middle section. This really annoyed the 35-year-old at the finish. Nevertheless, in the end it was enough for a 10th place. In this condition, Paris is a hot candidate for the departure on Saturday (11.45 a.m.).

Goldberg causes nerves to flutter

The race was interrupted for a while after the Austrian Daniel Danklmaier with start number 18 had a serious fall. When everyone was already expecting a clear Casse victory, Jared Goldberg catapulted himself out of the starting house with number 26. The American was faster than the Italian at times and even achieved top speed in the finish area.

In the end, Goldberg had to admit defeat by a measly hundredth. For the 33-year-old, it was still the first podium finish of his career. The Americans and Norwegians are traditionally fast in Val Gardena, as fourth-placed Scandinavian Fredrik Möller also showed. Christof Innerhofer lost almost two seconds to Casse. The local hero from Val Gardena, Max Perathoner, is still coming with start number 60.