Sensation in Val Gardena! A US boy prevents Kilde's record

The start in Val Gardena has been made. A blatant outsider won the first of three World Cup races on the Saslong on Thursday by a wafer-thin margin. The South Tyroleans were convinced by someone who many had already written off.

14 December 2023

From: fop

Nobody is as fast as him on the Salsong, nobody drives the lines here as tightly and nobody is as successful as him: Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. That's how it was until this Thursday at exactly 12.52:1 p.m. Then Bryce Bennett threw himself out of the starting point under the Sassolungo. The American was then supposed to complete a perfect run and set the absolute top time in 23,80:34 minutes. And that with the high starting number XNUMX.

Bennett had already surprised with first place in the Val Gardena downhill in 2021. It was his first and only World Cup victory to date. Until the 31-year-old's sensational ride, everyone in the finish area in St. Christina had expected Kilde's next victory in Val Gardena. He showed a wild, incredibly fast ride and raced towards the supposed record of the legendary Kristian Ghedina and Franz Klemm. Both have won four downhill runs on the Saslong. For Kilde, however, it remains three successes for the time being, as Bennett later pushed him into second place by three hundredths.

The superstars are defeated

Overall World Cup champion Marco Odermatt took third place, another two hundredths behind the Norwegian. But he has four more chances to win in South Tyrol. In Val Gardena and then in Alta Badia, the all-rounder will compete in five World Cup races in five days for the first time in his career.

The Austrians didn't have much to report at the Val Gardena opener: surprise man Stefan Babinsky took sixth place as the best ÖSV starter. Vincent Kriechmayr, the sprint downhill winner from last year, only finished 17th.

Dominik Paris finished tenth as the best Azzurro. © APA/afp / TIZIANA FABI

And the skiers from Italy? These were convincing with small drawbacks. Four made it into the top 15, but none of them made it into the top field. Dominik Paris came out best. The Ultimo powerhouse showed great adaptability on the technically demanding slope and achieved eleventh place with a consistent performance.

The “inner” is back

Immediately behind Paris was Christoph Innerhofer in the rankings. The “oldie” from Gais surprised everyone with a very good ride. In twelfth place he narrowly missed his return to the top ten. The last time Innerhofer was in the top ten in a downhill race was 692 days ago, namely in Kitzbühel in 2022.

At the same time as Innerhofer, his teammate Mattia Casse took twelfth place. Florian Schieder also collected numerous World Cup points in 15th place. The Castelrotto driver got off to a good start, but got a little carried away in the Ciaslat meadow and subsequently repeatedly lost the ideal line.

On Friday the Val Gardena World Cup program continues with a Super-G. SportNews ticks live from 11.45am.