The Paris challenge and an incredible ski fairy tale

Rarely will Dominik Paris be above one at the finish We were as happy about 4th place as we were on Sunday : When he swung off after his descent in Val d'Isére and saw the “foursome” flashing, the Ultner clenched his fist with a broad grin. In the end, South Tyrol's ski superstar was dropped back to 10th place, but that wasn't a drama, after all Paris had announced a top 10 place as their goal before the comeback. Rank 10 was in a way a confirmation after the Super-G on Saturday didn't go quite as planned.

Domme Paris clenches his fist. © Pentaphoto

“I am very happy with this race,” said Paris after his successful return to the downhill stage. “The feeling of last season is slowly coming back. The lightness and flow are still missing, but I think it will get better from race to race." At the same time, Paris is also sending a declaration of war to the competition: "I'm not very far behind, I'm close to the best. That means I worked well.” Now the Ski World Cup is moving to South Tyrol, where Paris wants to take the next step: “Now it’s off to Val Gardena, where I’ll attack again.” The race of his life But it wasn't Dominik Paris who put on the big show on Sunday. but a nobody . Martin Cater from Slovenia took part in the race of his life. When the Austrian Othmar Striedinger was already receiving his first congratulations at the finish on his debut World Cup victory, the 27-year-old Cater with start number 41 set out to write his very own skiing fairytale.

On the perfectly prepared slope and thanks to the favorable sunlight, the Slovenian was always on a par with the leader, then gradually worked his way into a lead, leaving numerous commentators in the cabins and fans in front of the screens looking increasingly incredulous and finally freaking out at the finish , when he realized after a few seconds that it was actually lighting up green.

A victory drive with the number 41 – that’s strange. Also because Cater didn't necessarily shine in the training and was ranked somewhere in the middle of nowhere with ranks 22 and 23. When you look at his CV it is also clear that you could never have expected such a winner. In the 94 previous World Cup races, the Slovenian was never better than sixth, and he never achieved a podium - neither in the World Cup nor in the second-class European Cup. He also seriously injured his knee at the beginning of 2019 and had to fight his way back. Now all the effort has paid off. "I can't believe it" Martin Cater How perplexed Cater himself was by his unexpected success became apparent in the interviews in which he repeatedly repeated the sentence “I can't believe it.” “It looks like I skied fast. I wouldn't have believed that the slopes would still be in such good condition. I was hoping for a good result, but when it turned green at the finish, I was shocked.” Rarely has a shock been so pleasant.

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The Paris challenge and an incredible ski fairy tale

The fact that the first descent of the season was so dramatic shows how spectacular and unpredictable the sport of skiing can be.

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