World No.1 Marco Odermatt won the Wengen downhill for the third time on Saturday, ahead of his compatriot Franjo von Allmen, extending the success of Swiss skiers this season in the men’s alpine skiing World Cup.
Odermatt, winner of the last three editions of the World Cup, offers Switzerland its sixth success in eight sprint races this season. This is also the fourth Swiss double in downhill this season.
Victorious the day before the super-G, von Allmen finished second at 37 hundredths. Starting with bib N.1, the Slovenian Miha Hrobat, already 3rd in the descent of Beaver Creek (Colorado), completes the podium at 57 hundredths.
Already winner of the two downhills contested in Wengen last year, Odermatt, 27, is the first skier to win three consecutive downhills in the Swiss resort, to the delight of the 40,000 spectators present on Saturday, a new attendance record. This is his second downhill success this season after Val Gardena and his 43rd in the World Cup.
The race was interrupted twice due to the falls of the Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr, second Friday in the super-G, and the Frenchman Blaise Giezendanner. The first was able to get up alone, but left the finish area limping, the second was airlifted, visibly injured in one knee.
The start of the season was marked by the fall of Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin at the end of December in Bormio. Seriously injured in the head, he has since begun a long rehabilitation.