For the third time in three men’s downhill Alpine skiing races this season, a Swiss athlete took home the win. For the first time this season, it was Franjo Von Allmen (SUI) who took the victory in Val Gardena, Italy.
It took a wild, edge-of-his-skis run to put Von Allmen on the top step of the podium, with a total time of 1:58.67. He was electric at the top of the course, setting the fastest times of the day in sectors one and two to give him a large cushion. A messy, powerful jump in sector three looked as if it would take Von Allmen out of the running for the second race in a row, but a strong recovery kept him on track for the win.
In the most telling words of any race on the men’s Alpine skiing speed tour this season, it was Marco Odermatt’s (SUI) race to lose. The Swiss superstar (+0.30) put together a truly-impressive run wearing bib No. 6, with just a small wiggle off the racing line in Ciaslat showing the barest hint of vulnerability. That was all Von Allmen needed to eclipse his teammate’s mark in the next run, knocking Odermatt off his familiar place on the top step of the podium and closing the gap in the downhill Crystal Globe race to just 50 points.
Italian Florian Schieder was all confidence in front of the hometown fans, putting together a clean, aggressive run to ski his way into third place on the podium (+0.98). It’s a stunning result for Schieder, who landed his third ever World Cup podium in his 70th career start and his first ever World Cup podium on home soil.
With his finish, Schieder completed an Italian hat trick of third-place results, with three different skiers grabbing podiums in front of their local fans. Dominik Paris finished third in the downhill (also behind Odermatt and Von Allmen), while Giovanni Franzoni took home third in the super-G (behind Jan Zabystran and Odermatt).
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Top-10 finishers in Val Gardena downhill |
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| 1 | Franjo Von Allmen (SUI) |
| 2 | Marco Odermatt (SUI) |
| 3 | Florian Schieder (ITA) |
| 4 | Nils Alphand (FRA) |
| 5 | Alessio Miggiano (SUI) |
| 6 | Dominik Paris (ITA) |
| 7 | Niels Hintermann (SUI) |
| 8 | Mattia Casse (ITA) |
| 9 | Adrien Theaux (FRA) |
| 10 | Elian Lehto (FIN) |
Kyle Negomir maintained his position as the star of Team USA, finishing as the top American in each of the three speed races. After starting with bib No. 48, Negomir climbed all the way up to 16th (+1.85), once again proving his comfort on the slopes of Val Gardena. It is his third top-20 finish this weekend, following an 11th-place result Thursday and 19th-place result Friday.
Sam Morse and Bryce Bennett both joined Negomir in the points for Team USA. The two racers nearly had opposite experiences during the race: Morse (+2.10) was the 53rd runner in the race, while Bennett (+2.16) was the first man down the mountain on Saturday. However, they finished just two places apart, with Morse in 24th and Bennett in 26th. Americans Jared Goldberg, Erik Arvidsson and Wiley Maple also finished the course in 35th, 46th and 50th, respectively.
It was a tough ending to a difficult weekend for American star Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who mistimed his entrance to the camel bumps, lifting his skies into the air and landing on his back. Cochran-Siegle was able to return to his feet immediately and ski off the course, alleviating concerns about a more serious crash.
Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde was a late scratch and did not start the race on Saturday morning. The two-time downhill Crystal Globe winner still is fighting his way back to full fitness after a slew of injuries sidelined him for 684 days. He finished 42nd Thursday and 27th Friday.