FILE PHOTO: Alpine Skiing – FIS Ski World Cup – Men’s Downhill – Val Gardena, Italy – December 18, 2021 Italy’s Dominik Paris reacts after his run REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
December 28, 2021
BORMIO, Italy (Reuters) – Home favourite Dominik Paris claimed a record sixth World Cup downhill victory at Bormio in his native Italy on Tuesday, continuing his domination of the challenging Stelvio piste.
Paris sped down in 1:54.63 to clinch his seventh Bormio victory overall, including one in super G, laying down a marker with little over a month to go until the Beijing Winter Olympics start on Feb. 4.
The victory came nine years on from the 32-year-old’s first triumph on the Stelvio, which will host all the men’s alpine ski races at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Overall World Cup points leader Marco Odermatt of Switzerland was 0.24 seconds off the pace as the giant slalom specialist took a surprise second, the first downhill podium finish of the 24-year-old’s career.
Swiss Niels Hintermann finished third, 0.80 seconds behind Paris, to claim his second successive podium finish after achieving the same result in Val Gardena 10 days ago.
Austria’s Matthias Mayer, one of the pre-race favourites, could only finish 12th and defending downhill champion Beat Feuz of Switzerland crashed out but was unhurt.
Paris moved up three places to the top of the downhill World Cup standings with 227 points, as Mayer dropped to second place on 217.
Hintermann (178 points) also climbed three places, moving into third ahead of Norway’s Aleksander Aamody Kilde (169), who finished sixth in Bormio.
There was no change at the top of the overall World Cup standing, with Odermatt leading on 713 points, 286 clear of Mayer in second and 344 ahead of Kilde.
Racing continues at Bormio on Dec. 29 and 30, with two days of super G competition.
(Reporting by Alasdair Mackenzie, editing by Ed Osmond)
Source: One America News Network
