On Tuesday, the first downhill training run in Val Gardena/Gröden marked the official start of the 58th Saslong Classic. Exceptional talent Marco Odermatt immediately confirmed his role as the favorite, setting the fastest time by a wide margin.

Odermatt, the winner of last year’s Val Gardena/Gröden downhill classic, delivered a flawless run and distanced himself from the competition by more than seven tenths of a second. With his first training run, the Swiss skier made it crystal clear: once again this year, the road to victory on the Saslong leads through him.

Behind Odermatt, Daniel Hemetsberger was the fastest of the rest of the field. The Austrian finished 0.72 seconds behind the fastest time in training. Local favorite Dominik Paris, who has a victory to his name at the foot of the Langkofel, also performed strongly and rounded out the top three (+0.78).

Large Time Gaps Characterize the Training Run
Apart from Hemetsberger and Paris, only two other athletes managed to keep their deficit below one second: Switzerland’s Alexis Monney (4th, +0.82) and Val Gardena/Gröden specialist Ryan Cochran-Siegle of the USA (5th, +0.91). Overall, the first training run was characterized by large time gaps, with Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr already more than two seconds behind Odermatt in eleventh place.

From a South Tyrolean perspective, not only Paris but also Florian Schieder impressed with a solid training run. The Kastelruth native finished twelfth, 2.09 seconds behind the leader. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde also delivered a strong performance on his return to Val Gardena/Gröden. The five-time Saslong winner, who missed last season due to injury, placed 16th—two years after his last appearance in Val Gardena/Gröden.

Another downhill training run is scheduled for Wednesday on the Saslong. The second training session will start at 11:45 am.

The complete results list for the first downhill training is available here.