The super-G in Val Gardena/Gröden ended with a major surprise: Czech skier Jan Zabystran, starting with bib number 29, took full advantage of the improving conditions on the Saslong and sensationally clinched his first World Cup victory.

A look at Zabystran’s career to date underlines just how extraordinary this triumph is. Prior to the race in Val Gardena/Gröden, the 27-year-old had never finished higher than eighth in a World Cup event, and on the Saslong he had never placed better than 20th. Since Friday, Zabystran can now call himself a World Cup winner—and in doing so, he has made history: since the introduction of the Alpine Ski World Cup in 1967, no Czech athlete had ever won a World Cup race.

Second place in the super-G went to top favorite Marco Odermatt, who missed out on his third Val Gardena/Gröden victory by just over two tenths of a second. For a long time, the Swiss skier looked like the certain winner but was ultimately narrowly beaten by Zabystran. Odermatt lost valuable time in the final section after making a crucial mistake, which proved decisive.

Franzoni Races onto the World Cup Podium for the First Time

Another highlight came from Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni. The young “Azzurro” delivered a strong performance to finish third, securing the first World Cup podium of his career.

The two Frenchmen Nils Allègre and Matthieu Bailet narrowly missed out on the podium, finishing fourth and fifth respectively. South Tyrolean veteran Christof Innerhofer once again delivered a strong performance: just 24 hours after placing eleventh in the sprint downhill, the 41-year-old finished an impressive sixth in the super-G.

Among the athletes beaten on Friday were Vincent Kriechmayr (Austria) and Dominik Paris (Ultimo/Ulten). After a flawed run, Kriechmayr finished ninth and relinquished the lead in the super-G discipline standings to Odermatt, while Paris was unable to place higher than 25th.
The other South Tyrolean starters, Florian Schieder (Castelrotto/Kastelruth) and Max Perathoner (Selva/Wolkenstein), were eliminated.

The 58th Saslong Classic will conclude on Saturday with the third and final race. The classic downhill is scheduled to start at 11:45 am at the foot of the sassolungo/Langkofel.