Marco Odermatt wins downhill in Val Gardena ahead of Franjo von Allmen

As in the first downhill run of the World Cup winter in Beaver Creek, the Swiss also achieved a double success in Val Gardena. Marco Odermatt won ahead of Franjo von Allmen. It was the first Swiss downhill victory on the Saslong in 14 years.

Swiss in 1st and 2nd place on the Saslong… on this route, of all places, on which the Swiss-Ski athletes had recently struggled to win after impressive dominance in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. It has been 14 years since the Swiss Psalm was last played after a descent on the 1970 World Cup slope. The winner back then was Silvan Zurbriggen. The following winter, Beat Feuz dominated the Super-G in the same place. That should have been it with first places for the Swiss.

In the second downhill run this season it was the second double success for the Swiss. In Beaver Creek, Colorado, two weeks ago, Justin Murisier triumphed ahead of Odermatt in his first victory in the World Cup.

Because the piste conditions developed over the course of the race, as so often on the Saslong, to the advantage of those who started later, Odermatt and Von Allmen could not be sure of their double success for a long time. Despite good, even very good, intermediate times, no competitor managed to make it into the top four.

Odermatt won with a lead of 45 hundredths. Behind him things got tighter in terms of time. Von Allmen was only one and two hundredths faster than the American Ryan Cochran-Siegle and the Frenchman Nils Allègre. The next best were the Slovenian Martin Cater with number 42, the Austrian Stefan Eichberger with number 56 and the Austrian Romed Baumann with number 31, who was starting for Germany, five, seven and eight hundredths slower.

Stefan Rogentin took 10th place and equaled his second best results in World Cup downhills. Lars Rösti was two positions behind the Graubünden driver – and it was the Bernese who made the leaders' pulses soar. Before entering the Ciaslat meadow he was no less than 86 hundredths ahead of Odermatt. 11th place means Rösti's best downhill result to date. The day before he had already impressed with 8th place in the Super-G.

The decision in the duel between Odermatt and Von Allmen came in this very passage over the Ciaslat meadow. In this undulating section, Odermatt was 88 hundredths faster than his young teammate. Von Allmen, for his part, laid the foundation for his second podium finish in the World Cup with a successful ride in the top part of the track. The Bernese, who only completed his tenth downhill run at this level on Saturday, had already made it into the top three with third place in the second Super-G in Garmisch at the end of January.

Odermatt achieved his third victory in the current World Cup winter, the third in a downhill after his double in Wengen at the beginning of the year. «It means a lot to me. Val Gardena with the original start is probably the race in which I would have imagined it would be most difficult to win,” explained the 27-year-old from Nidwalden afterwards. Overall, he was first in the World Cup for the 40th time, drawing level with the Swiss record holder Pirmin Zurbriggen. Thanks to the victory, he also took the lead in the overall and discipline rankings. (nih/sda)