Overshadowed by Marco Schwarz’s serious knee injury and the end of his season, the third descent of the season in Bormio also ended without a podium finish for the ÖSV. The best Austrian on the Stelvio was Vincent Kriechmayr in fifth place. The French surprise man Cyprien Sarrazin stole the show from Marco Odermatt (+0.09) on Thursday with his first downhill World Cup victory.
Kriechmayr steered a supposedly damaged ski to fifth place (+2.07 seconds). Like the eliminated Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, last year’s winner stated that he had hit a stone. “I had to fight through every turn to the right, I just didn’t have the pace anymore,” said Kriechmayr. “Too bad, tomorrow is a new day.” The Super-G has a completely different character. “I will do my best.”
Also read: Torn cruciate ligament! Season is over for Marco Schwarz following a crash in Bormio
Raphael Haaser was able to be a bright spot with 14th place in only his second World Cup downhill, and Daniel Danklmaier also scored good points in 19th place. Daniel Hemetsberger (32nd), who was somewhat at a loss following his trip, was different. “I did whatever I might. I crossed the finish line and thought it must have been good.” Otmar Striedinger (40th), Stefan Rieser (43rd/debut) and Stefan Babinsky (43rd) were more than four seconds behind outside the points.
Bormio “King” Dominik Paris was among those defeated before the Super-G on Friday (11.30 a.m./ORF 1). The seven-time Stelvio winner from South Tyrol, most recently also a winner in Val Gardena, temporarily lay down in the snow on the way to a possible podium finish.
Sarrazin had already put in a strong performance with a best training time and brought his risky style to the slopes to a second World Cup victory. Seven years ago, the 29-year-old former giant slalom won the parallel giant slalom in Alta Badia. “I had my best ride. It’s crazy, it means a lot following all my injuries.”
Odermatt didn’t want to blame himself in the ORF interview. “It was the perfect ride, everything worked out, but someone was faster,” said the downhill world champion and new overall World Cup leader from Switzerland. Third-placed Cameron Alexander (CAN) already had 1.23 seconds
