Wengen, Italians protagonists in trial
Wengen, test
It’ began with the first timed run of the Lauberhorn downhill the long World Cup week in Wengen. Setting the best time (our with goal jump) è Canadian Cameron Alexander who set the time on 2’25″41, 21 hundredths ahead of Austrian Otmar Striedinger and 46 better than Mattia Casse, once again the best of the Italians. Casse conspicuously slowed down in the final section of the track, after being in the lead for three-quarters of the course: it means that the Piedmontese has good weapons for the races at the Swiss resort.
Florian Schieder also did well, returning to show himself in the upper areas of the standings with the fifth time at 1″50 from the Canadian. And overall positive è also the performance of Christof Innerhofer, ninth at the end with a disadvantage of 2″31 from the leader. Dominik Paris does not push the accelerator to the maximum, as he always does in the first round, but still finishes in 11th place with 2″41 delay. Many of the likely protagonists of the weekend’s races, however, tucked away: Marco Odermatt finished 3″18 behind, Vincent Kriechmayr with 3″07, the up-and-coming Franjo Von Allmen with 3″40. Loic Meillard, who needed rest after his podium finish in the giant in Adelboden, did not even start.
The day presented a bright sunshine and the Lauberhorn slope was in splendid condition, nevertheless the two falls – without consequences – of Rogentin and Goldberg forced the organizers and the jury to interrupt the trial.
Other Azzurri in the trial included Benjamin Alliod’s 26th time, at 3″41 from Alexander, Nicolò Molteni’s 30th time at 3″95, Giovanni Franzoni’s 32nd time at 3″99, and Gregorio Bernardi’s 50th time, making his debut on the iconic Swiss track and still very fast in a couple of sections. Emanuele Buzzi, who is joining the World Cup team after his podium finish in the European Cup super-G in Pass Thurn, did not start. For Wednesday, the second time trial is scheduled, again starting at 12:30 p.m.