Bryce Bennett blows everyone away in Val Gardena, Dominik Paris doesn’t lose his smile
Bryce Bennett wins first downhill race of the season
It's Bryce Bennett the first athlete to inscribe his name among the winners of the speed races in the 2023/2024 alpine skiing season: the American in fact won on Thursday the first downhill in Val Gardena, on the Saslong slope that had also seen him triumph in 2021. The success, not predicted on the eve, è came thanks to the time of 1:23.80 obtained with bib number 34: mocked by only 3 hundredths the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.
Completing the podium is Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, who becomes leader of the overall World Cup ranking with 160 points, the same as Austrian Marco Schwarz, a specialist in technical disciplines. As for the specialty ranking, of course, today's success brings Bennett ahead of everyone with the first 100 points of this season in the specialty.
Chapter Italians: Dominik Paris è the best, with the 11th overall time. The gap from Bennett è not very high, 52 hundredths, underlining how highly competitive the downhill on the Saslong was. Behind the 34-year-old came two other Italian skiers, Mattia Casse and Christof Innerhofer (just 2 hundredths behind Paris), tied. 15th Florian Schieder, 19th Wilhelm Bosca. Out of the points zone Benjamin Jacques Alliod, Pietro Zazzi and Nicolò Molteni.
"I’m really satisfied,” Paris commented to the official Fisi channels. “The season starts off on the right foot, it was the first race and it won’t be perfect skiing but many details are in place. I am close to the best and with a little bit of work I can stay in front. It’ a race that gives confidence, both technically and on the confidence front that is growing after last season”.
