The top favourite delivered in the first of three races at the 58th Saslong Classic: Marco Odermatt was in a class of his own in Thursday's sprint downhill, leading a Swiss double victory ahead of his teammate Franjo von Allmen.
Odermatt kept his cool in the shortened downhill, which had to be postponed and interrupted several times due to fog, and claimed his 50th World Cup victory. This puts the 28-year-old Swiss skier on a par with the legendary Alberto Tomba in terms of victories. With his first place finish, Odermatt also impressively demonstrated his dominance in the supreme discipline of alpine skiing: just a few weeks ago, the overall World Cup leader was also unbeatable in the only downhill race of the winter so far in Beaver Creek.
Behind Odermatt, downhill world champion Franjo von Allmen completed the Swiss double victory. The 24-year-old missed out on a possible best time with a sloppy start and was one and a half tenths behind his compatriot at the finish. Remarkably, the top two in the sprint downhill are the same skiers as in the 2024 downhill classic – Odermatt also beat von Allmen back then.
Strong Swiss and Italian performances
Local favorite Dominik Paris from Ultimo/Ulten completed the podium in third place. The winner of the 2023 Val Gardena/Gröden downhill race was even able to afford a moment of carelessness at the Ciaslat entrance during his run – without this mistake, the South Tyrolean could even have achieved a second triumph at Saslong. For Paris, it was his fourth podium finish overall in his home race.
In front of a home crowd, Paris along with the entire Italian speed team put in a convincing performance. With Florian Schieder (6th) from Castelrotto/Kastelruth, Mattia Casse (7th), Giovanni Franzoni (8th), Christof Innerhofer (11th – one day after his 41st birthday) from Gais, and Benjamin Jacques Alliod (14th), five other “Azzurri” finished in the top 15. In fact, the sprint downhill was dominated by two nations: ten of the top 15 racers came from either Switzerland or Italy.
Marco Odermatt (SUI | 1st place): "I'm enjoying the flow I'm in at the moment and, of course, I hope it continues. Right now, I'm also lucky that the hundredths are on my side – that was the case again today. My run may not have been perfect, but I managed to maintain my speed from start to finish. That was probably the deciding factor in the end."
Franjo von Allmen (SUI | 2nd place): “Unfortunately, I didn’t get off to the best start, but the rest of the run went very well. I’m happy to take second place. Marco absolutely deserves the win—he always pushes us teammates with his strong performances and makes sure we push each other.”
Dominik Paris (ITA/Ulten | 3rd place): “My run wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly very good, so I’m extremely happy. I didn’t get the entry into the Ciaslat quite right—the timing was off, and I probably lost two to three tenths there. I was very fast in the upper section of the course. Since Saturday’s downhill is even longer than today’s, I’m confident I can make up some time there. In Val Gardena/Gröden, you have to maintain high speed in every section—if you lose a few km/h, it’s almost impossible to regain it before the finish line.”
Florian Schieder (ITA/Kastelruth | 6th place): “I had a good feeling right from the start. I was just a little too cautious in the Ciaslat—I need to ski that section with more courage and conviction. Overall, though, I’m very satisfied. It’s especially nice that we achieved such a strong result as a team. Now I’m really looking forward to Friday and Saturday. I hope lots of people come out so we can all cheer together in the finish stadium.”
Mattia Casse (ITA | 7th place): “I definitely took a step forward today, even though I made a few mistakes during my run. Overall, it was quite solid. The speed is there, which gives me a lot of confidence for the upcoming races. On the Saslong, you always have to push yourself to the limit—and that’s exactly what I plan to do over the next few days.”
Christof Innerhofer (ITA/Gais | 11th place): “Age is just a number for me—I don’t feel as old as I am. The fact that I’m still competing in the World Cup shows that I’m physically fit and able to keep up. In the USA, my setup was completely off, but afterward I tried many different things and made adjustments. Now the feeling and the speed are back. It was really cool to race with a high start number among the ‘young wild ones.’ Everyone is pushing hard to move forward, and feeling that determination up close is great for me. I’m really happy with this result.”
Full results
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