Marco Odermatt took the win in Val Gardena. © APA/afp / MARCO BERTORELLO

Crazy Val Gardena downhill: Switzerland trembles and celebrates

The downhill race in Val Gardena is a great spectacle every year. On Saturday, crazy scenes took place at the classic race on the Saslong.

21 December 2024

From: det

Bright blue skies, thousands of enthusiastic spectators, a perfect slope: everything was set up in Val Gardena on Saturday for the downhill run on the Saslong, the great classic in the Ski World Cup. And the fans in St. Christina and those in front of the TV screens were not disappointed. You don't see such an exciting downhill run as the one in the Valley of the Woodcarvers every day.

The victory went to Marco Odermatt, second was his teammate and surprise man Franjo von Allmen (+0,45 seconds), third was the American Ryan Cochran-Siegle (+0,46). But in the finish area this trio had to wait until the very last runner. The reason: several athletes with starting numbers over 30 drove outstanding times and were even on course for the podium at times. But in the end there was no mega sensation.

Caused a small surprise: Franjo von Allmen. © APA/afp / MARCO BERTORELLO

Val Gardena is known for its camel humps, the Ciaslat meadows, the countless jumps. And also for the fact that athletes with high numbers have an enormous chance of causing surprises here. This is because the sun shines more and more on the slopes as the race goes on. When Marco Odermatt swung down at the finish, took the lead and clenched his fist, he didn't know that he would have to worry about his first Val Gardena victory for another hour and a half.

With number 56 in 6th place

Because from start number 30 onwards there were suddenly a number of runners who were able to gain enormous leads. The Swiss Lars Rösti (number 34) was almost a second ahead of Odermatt in the upper part (and ended up 42th), the Slovenian Martin Cater finished 5th with number 56, and the Austrian Stefan Eichberger even finished 6th with number 20. "That wears you out," said second-placed Franjo von Allmen at the finish, who had to worry a lot about his placing - but was ultimately able to celebrate his second podium place in the World Cup. In the end, there were no fewer than ten runners in the top 31 who started the Saslong with number XNUMX or higher. This Val Gardena downhill run is crazy!

Dominik Paris landed outside the top ranks. © APA/afp / MARCO BERTORELLO

There was no success for the Azzurri on Saturday. Mattia Casse, who won the Super-G on Friday, finished 14th and was thus the best of his team. Last year's winner Dominik Paris had nothing to gain this time. The Ultner never found his rhythm on the Saslong, which is why he finished 25th in the final ranking, more than a second behind. Christof Innerhofer collected a few World Cup points in 27th place, while Florian Schieder clearly missed out on the points in 44th place.

Now Alta Badia is waiting

While the downhill stars are now taking a short Christmas break (the race continues in Bormio on December 28th), the technicians are moving to Alta Badia. The giant slalom will take place there on Sunday and the slalom will take place on Monday.