Mattia Casse wants to repeat in Wengen. Dominik Paris is outspoken on the slope
The words of Mattia Casse and Dominik Paris
Cyprien Sarrazin, after the Bormio exploit, è seriously intends to put the Lauberhorn downhill in his carcase as well. He made this clear to all his opponents, imposing himself in the short-distance event (the one on which he will be competing on Thursday), which he finished with the best time of 1'45"87, 35 hundredths ahead of Justin Murisier and 41 better than Mattia Casse, the best of the Azzurri on the slope that last year gave him third place overall.
"How can you not do downhill in these conditions, with this slope and this weather? It’s really beautiful! – exclaimed Casse, in the words reported by FISI -. And it’s not going to be short or long downhill, it’s still two downhill runs in Wengen, a really demanding slope. Sarrazin è in great shape, Odermatt said he wants to win it. There are so many strong athletes on the slope. We will see what will happen. As for me today I did a good test, there’è still to file something in some steps, but I feel that everything is regular and I am ready”.
Dominik Paris finished in 15th place with 1"36 disadvantage on the Frenchman, but as usual the Val d'Ultimo champion uses the tests to study the key passages more than to look for the time.
"The test è went quite well, both from below as well as from the top – said Dominik Paris -, there are a couple of passages where you absolutely have to do well: the "S" and if you start from the top the ""Hundschopf" and "S". Lì you just can&’t go wrong. The track is not è optimal, it’s splitting a little bit’. I thought it would hold more today, but instead it gives in a few passes: maybe there’è some air in the snow. Hopefully it will hold for tomorrow and we can have a good race".
Florian Schieder finished 1"76 behind the best, while Guglielmo Bosca contained the gap to 1"81 (with goal jump). Pietro Zazzi crossed the finish line 2"19 behind (also skipping a pass), Christof Innerhofer with 2"98 (the champion from Gais è grappling with the aftermath of the calf cut he è got when he fell in the Bormio super-G), Nicolò Molteni with 3"62 and Benjamin Alliod with 3"69.
Thursday marks the start of the first race, the downhill with a lowered start at the start of the super-G that makes up for the one cancelled in Beaver Creek at the beginning of the season. The start è scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, the summonses for Sunday’s slalom in the Swiss resort have been issued are: Stefano Gross, Tommaso Sala, Tobias Kastlunger, Simon Murberger, Alex Vinatzer, Giuliano Razzoli and Hans Vaccari.