Marco Odermatt (right) and Franjo von Allmen end 14 years of waiting for a Swiss downhill victory in Val Gardena with their double win
Image: Keystone
Marco Odermatt wins a World Cup downhill for the third time
Image: Keystone
Franjo von Allmen stands on the podium for the first time in this discipline after his tenth World Cup downhill race
Image: Keystone
Stefan Rogentin equals his second-best results in World Cup downhill races with 10th place
Image: Keystone
Lars Rösti also impresses in the downhill, as he did the day before in the super-G
Image: Keystone
American Ryan Cochran-Siegle completes the podium
Image: Keystone
Marco Odermatt (right) and Franjo von Allmen end 14 years of waiting for a Swiss downhill victory in Val Gardena with their double win
Image: Keystone
Marco Odermatt wins a World Cup downhill for the third time
Image: Keystone
Franjo von Allmen stands on the podium for the first time in this discipline after his tenth World Cup downhill race
Image: Keystone
Stefan Rogentin equals his second-best results in World Cup downhill races with 10th place
Image: Keystone
Lars Rösti also impresses in the downhill, as he did the day before in the super-G
Image: Keystone
American Ryan Cochran-Siegle completes the podium
Image: Keystone
Switzerland can also hope for a double success in the World Cup downhill in Val Gardena. Marco Odermatt leads the intermediate classification ahead of Franjo von Allmen.
21.12.2024, 13:01
SDA
Swiss in first and second place on the Saslong - on this course of all places, where the Swiss-Ski athletes have recently struggled to win. It has been 14 years since the last time the Swiss Psalm was played after a downhill on the 1970 World Championship slope. The winner back then was Silvan Zurbriggen.
The following winter, Beat Feuz dominated the super-G at the same venue. That was to be it for first places for the Swiss. It would be the second double success in the second downhill of the season. In Beaver Creek, Colorado, two weeks ago, Justin Murisier triumphed ahead of Odermatt in his first World Cup victory.
Odermatt leads the rankings by 45 hundredths. Behind him, the times have been much closer so far. Von Allmen is just one and two hundredths ahead of the American Ryan Cochran-Siegle and the Frenchman Nils Allègre respectively. Stefan Rogentin is in 7th place, which would improve his personal best result in this discipline by one place.
The decision in the Swiss duel was made in the passage over the Ciaslat meadow. In this undulating section, Odermatt was 88 hundredths faster than his young team-mate. Von Allmen, for his part, laid the foundations for his possible second podium finish in the World Cup with a successful run in the top section of the course. The man from Bern, who only completed his tenth downhill 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 is on the verge of his third victory in the current World Cup winter, his third in a downhill after his double in Wengen at the start of the year. This would be the 40th time he has won the World Cup, which would tie him with Swiss record holder Pirmin Zurbriggen. Thanks to his victory, he would also take the lead in the overall and discipline rankings.
