Marco Odermatt finally wins his first World Cup downhill victory

WENGEN, Switzerland — Marco Odermatt finally won the World Cup Downhill on Thursday in his 36th attempt after finishing second the previous eight times.

The Swiss star, who has 29 World Cup wins in giant slalom and super-G, produced a near-perfect run in ideal racing conditions on his country’s signature downhill track, finishing 0.58 seconds faster than Cyprien Sarrazin. Ta. Alexander Ahmot Kilde took third place, 0.81 behind his long-time rival.

“It’s a dream to finally win my first downhill race and here at home,” Odermatt told Swiss broadcaster RTS. “I was very motivated today. I took a risk and skated.”

Odermatt won gold in the downhill at last season’s world championships, but has never won a major event on the World Cup circuit, finishing runner-up eight times, including twice in Wengen.

It was his 30th career World Cup race win, and his sixth of the season, following 18 giant slalom wins and 11 super-G wins. He also won gold in the giant slalom at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Results were unofficial as lower-ranked racers prepared to start after fog clouds settled over the famous Lauberhorn hill.

Odermatt is set to collect 100 World Cup points, increasing his lead over the two-time overall champion to 372 points over Marco Schwarz, whose season ended last month with a downhill crash in Bormio, Italy. Become. In third place was 2020 overall champion Kilde.

Thursday’s top three rankings mirrored Kilde’s in-season downhill rankings over the past two seasons.

An additional downhill race below the Eiger and Jungfrau mountains in Wengen was held in Beaver Creek, Colorado, replacing a race canceled last month due to bad weather.

A shortened 1.83 mile course was used that started just above the signature Funschopf jump, allowing racers to launch themselves up to 45 yards into the air.

The top racers started at the finish area at about 4,250 feet above sea level under clear blue skies above the clouds in sunny skies and temperatures of about 25 degrees Fahrenheit.

Odermatt excelled by being fast through the tricky S-curve in the middle of the course, which slowed racers down to about 44 miles per hour.

Odermatt’s top speed on the Hannex Straight in the second half was close to 130km/h. Fifth-place finisher Dominique Paris broke 90mph on the same stretch where Johan Clary set the World Cup speed record of 160.6mph in 2013.

The four-race extended weekend at Wengen continues with a super-G on Friday, followed by the classic Lauberhorn downhill, the longest race on the World Cup circuit, on Saturday. It takes nearly two and a half minutes to complete the entire distance of approximately 2 3/4 miles.