 | CONNELL GRANGE SUPPLY WHERE THE CUSTOMER IS STILL THE COMPANY |
|
Printable Page
12/19 07:16 CST Zabystran stuns Odermatt in super-G to become first Czech man
to win a World Cup race
Zabystran stuns Odermatt in super-G to become first Czech man to win a World
Cup race
VAL GARDENA, Italy (AP) --- It took a historic achievement and some late
sunshine to deny Marco Odermatt another World Cup victory.
No Czech man had ever won a World Cup race in the 60 seasons of the Alpine
skiing circuit until unheralded Jan Zabystran started Friday's super-G wearing
the low-ranked bib No. 29. Odermatt, the Swiss superstar, was sitting in the
leader's box by the finish area looking likely to follow up Thursday's downhill
victory with yet another win.
But Zabrystan --- who only had one top-10 result in his previous 56 World Cup
races --- stunned the field by taking advantage of the better light to finish
0.22 seconds ahead of Odermatt.
"It's a beautiful day," Zabrystan said. "I saw the green light, it's something
crazy."
He is not the first surprise winner at Val Gardena, which is suited to such
quirks. The sunshine can arrive late on the course nestled in the spiky
Dolomites mountains to light the way for late starters. That can sometimes
upend the standings --- just as it did Friday.
Zabrystan was fastest on the sun-bathed bottom part of the course, but he also
posted the quickest split in the top section to show his win was not all luck.
Odermatt had raced about 50 minutes earlier, when he had been impressively
aggressive while skiing in darker light just before midday.
Third-placed Giovanni Franzoni also got a career-best result, 0.37 back. The
former world junior champion in super-G had the No. 16 start bib and was among
the first racers to get blazing sunshine on the lower section, where only
Zabrystan was faster.
Other low-ranked racers to shine included No. 43 starter Matthieu Bailet in
fifth and Italian veteran Christof Innerhofer sixth with a No. 30 bib
immediately after Zabrystan.
Zabrystan's was not the highest bib number among recent winners at Val Gardena.
American downhiller Steven Nyman won the classic Saslong race in 2012 wearing
No. 39.
The 27-year-old Czech's previous best World Cup result was eighth place in a
super-G in Norway last year. He went to the past two Winter Olympics, failed to
finish six of his nine events, and with a best result of 25th.
As a measure of how good Odermatt had been, he was the only one of the first 10
starters who finished with a top-10 result.
Odermatt extended his huge lead in the World Cup overall standings as he chases
a fifth straight title. He also now leads the season-long super-G standings
after three races.
___
AP Olympics coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
