A perfect track despite the foehn storm which delayed the event by a quarter of an hour, tens of thousands of spectators around the track – including almost 10,000 under the Hundschopf alone! -, a race which crowned two Swiss skiers after some 140 seconds of intense effort… This World Cup Saturday will go down in the annals of Swiss sport. Because Marco Odermatt (43rd victory and 79th podium in 162 starts) added a new line to his legend and the new darling Franjo von Allmen shone once again.
The Nidwalden, revengeful after his little failure the day before in super-G (7th, his worst ranking in the discipline for more than two years), cut up the legendary track of the Bernese Oberland. The overall leader of the World Cup made big differences in the second third of the course and pushed the competition very far away, before ensuring magnificently at the bottom, where his technique spoke.
With three downhill successes in Wengen, “Odi” joins Beat Feuz, Franz Klammer and Rudolf Graf in history. Only Karl Molitor (6 successes), Karl Schranz and Toni Sailer (4) still resist him. His country is achieving historic feats this season too. Never before has Swiss skiing celebrated a double during Saturday’s descent. Switzerland has also won the four downhills contested since the start of the year.
A quarter of an hour before starting the longest race of the season, his 23rd start in the World Cup, Franjo von Allmen was still sticking his tongue out at the camera and watching what was happening on his smartphone. .. The 23-year-old Bernese, winner the day before in super-G, once again thrilled his audience, notably achieving a phenomenal high. He got on his 5th career podium and showed some incredible class in speed, at such a young age.
-It is never easy to get excited about the time of bib No. 1. Because there is the “1” displayed at the bottom of the track anyway and there is no landmark. However, RTS commentators John Nicolet and Patrice Morisod did it and for good reason. The Slovenian Miha Hrobat, in 2’23”15, had just put almost a second within sight of the route record, held until now by the Italian legend Kristian Ghedina, who had descended the Lauberhorn in 2’24”24 28 years ago. This earned him 3rd place on the podium.
The other Swiss did not manage to get close to the coveted podium. Justin Murisier hit himself on the helmet at the finish. But Bagnard managed a good 7th place, at 1”18. In his garden, where he was injured so often, Marco Kohler failed. He finished exactly three seconds after a few scares. Alexis Monney also waited for a long time in the gate before finally being able to take off and climbed through one of the last gates.
The Berne test was, however, affected by a frightening moment. Vincent Kriechmayr fell heavily just before the final “S” and crashed into the protective nets. The Austrian veteran was able to reach the finish line standing, after long minutes, before being airlifted directly to Innsbruck. The state of his right knee, a few weeks before the World Championships in Saalbach, will inevitably worry an entire country in the “Wunderteam” no longer has a “Wunder” in name only. Frenchman Blaise Giezendanner, also injured in one knee, also ended up in hospital.
