After the close times that were witnessed in Val Gardena, the brutality of the Downhill in Bormio saw big gaps appear between places. Attacking and courageous skiing saw France's Cyprien Sarrazin take his second World Cup win ahead of Marco Odermatt with Canada's Cameron Alexander taking his second podium with third. The top five were rounded out by Justin Murisier and Vincent Kriechmayr.
This was maybe a race that saw more discussion off the slope than on it. Six time winner, Dominic Paris hip slide and finished last, Aleksander Kilde failed to finish as he caught a stone and pulled up half way down and Marco Schwarz saw his season put on pause as he crashed and was airlifted off to hospital.
Take nothing away from Sarrazin though. With a win in the Parallel GS back in 2016 (Alta Badia), Sarrazin has reinvented himself and is now a force to be reckoned with on the Downhill skis. He was fastest on the first training run, as he was also in Beaver Creak before the race was cancelled, and also won a training run in Kitzbuehel last season. With Johan Carey retired and Adrien Theaux in the last throws of his career, maybe France has a new speed king! This is the first French winner in Bormio since 1996.
Val Gardena saw the race decided by hundredths of a second, in Bormio, the hard, icy conditions and the longer course saw 0.09 separate Sarrazin and Odermatt but Alexander was 1.23 off the lead.
There is little time to relax on the Stevio course. There are big turns, there is of course the big San Pietro Jump (a favourite of many British racers that attend the English Championships in Bormio each year) and then there is the long run in to the finish when the legs are burning.
Sarrazin chose a different line at the top of the course and he managed to keep it going all the way to the bottom. Had Odermatt managed to keep his skis flat on the last small jump, it may well have been him on the top step but his first World Cup Downhill win eludes him still.
Odermatt, talking after the race felt that this race performance was better than his World Championship win last season, such were the conditions.
This was a race decided on errors rather than on a perfect run. Sarrazin made the least and his Rossignol's carried the speed and arced around the icy bends with precision. With the podium racers starting 4, 6 and 5 in that order, Murisier, who finished 4th, gave the later racers hope that a Bennett like performance from Val Gardena was still possible.
Ten racers from outside the top thirty starters powered their way into the points scoring positions with Austrian Raphael Haaser giving the Austrians something to cheer in coming from bib 57, second last to start, to place joint 14.
With the likes of Kilde and Paris not scoring points, Odermatt now has the lead in the season long Downhill standings. After the race Kilde explained what happened to him and why he stopped:
“It felt like I hit a rock, and I looked at the ski when I came to the finish – inside on the left ski had a rips in it, and then it’s impossible to ski Bormio after that because it’s so icy,” he said.
“I actually just stopped because I knew it would be dangerous. It’s a pity. I feel really good in my skiing, but this is a part of the game, we have lots of chances and new races coming up.
“I watched Cyprien and I knew I had to send it. I was really fired up today but you need four edges to win a run like that.”
For Sarrazin though, this was the day that he will remember for a long time:
“Finally I did a great run from the first gate to the finish line,” he said afterwards. “I felt so great, I enjoyed it. I pushed all along. I think it’s crazy. When I crossed the line I thought ‘yes, you did your job, and it is amazing’.
“It means a lot for me. After all the injuries, bad moments and good moments in my career, today I feel great. I wasn’t nervous, I knew I could do something. I said, just be yourself and see what happens.”
Odermatt now takes over the lead in the Downhill and the Overall. With a Super G in the morning, who will be able to stop him?
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