SELVA DI VAL GARDENA, Italy (AP) 鈥� Marco Odermatt finally conquered the Saslong and the Swiss standout did it in style.
Odermatt put down what he called 鈥渙ne of my best鈥� downhill runs on Saturday to win a World Cup race in Val Gardena as the three-time overall World Cup champion looked like back to his imperious best.
The 27-year-old beat Swiss teammate Franjo von Allmen by 0.45 seconds for his first victory at the resort in the Italian Dolomites. Odermatt had had four podium finishes there 鈥� including in Saturday鈥檚 super-G 鈥� but had never been better than second.
It was Odermatt鈥檚 40th World Cup victory but only his third in downhill.
"It was one of my best downhills," Odermatt said. 鈥淚f you want to win the downhill, you need the perfect run and today already on the top, which is not really my section, I could ski very well and finally I also jumped well, and then it was really perfect. So yeah, very happy with the run.鈥�
Cameron Alexander of North Vancouver, 小蓝视频, was the top Canadian in ninth. Brodie Seger of North Vancouver finished 11th from a start position of 50th.
It had been a less than stellar start to the season for Odermatt 鈥� by his lofty standards 鈥� and he yelled out in joy several times after crossing the line, before taking off his skis and raising them up and letting out another long shout.
Before Odermatt came down it had been an incredibly tight race, with the top three separated by just 0.02. In the end, American skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle finished third, with Nils All猫gre of France missing out on what would have been only his second ever podium finish by one hundredth of a second.
It was Cochrane-Siegle's third podium after also finishing third in Val Gardena four years ago and winning the super-G in Bormio 10 days later.
鈥淚t was good skiing, it was fun,鈥� he said. 鈥淕ardena is a really challenging hill to ski, in the sense of skiing fast. I鈥檝e had runs here where I thought I鈥檇 put down a good one, and it鈥檚 been seconds out, so you really never know until you cross the finish line.
"I was just focusing on trying to carry speed as much as possible. When I ski my best I do that 鈥� keeping skiing really simple, back to basics.鈥�
Odermatt won the downhill World Cup title last season, as well as the super-G, giant slalom and overall crystal globes.
The only previous downhill this season was in Beaver Creek, where Odermatt finished second to teammate Justin Murisier.
Odermatt moved 78 points above Murisier in the downhill standings and 50 points above Henrik Kristoffersen in the overall.
The circuit moves to nearby Alta Badia where there is a giant slalom on Sunday and a slalom the following day.
Meanwhile, in a super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland to mark her at age 40. Her comeback continues in a super-G in St. Moritz on Sunday.
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