Von Allmen Wins Val Gardena Downhill, Huetter Top In Val d'Isère
Franjo von Allmen (SUI/Head) has been taking an all-or-nothing approach to speed skiing this season. Sometimes it ends in disaster – he crashed spectacularly yesterday at Val Gardena in the Super G – but when it works, it really works.
Von Allmen scored victory in the classic, full-length Downhill on Saturday with a wild ski, pipping his teammate Marco Odermatt (SUI/Stöckl) into second place. It was his fourth Audi FIS World Cup victory.
It was another great day for the Swiss, who had finished one-two in the other Downhill here on Thursday.
Florian Schieder (ITA/ Atomic) also capped an successful weekend for Italy, securing his third career podium with a solid run to finish third.
Odermatt had set the early pace, producing an aggressive but controlled run in bib six, despite a buckle coming undone on his boot.
The Swiss great, who had won the opening two Downhills of the season, kept his lines tight, only going slightly wide mid-course, but recovering brilliantly.
It looked like another victorious turn – but Von Allmen is one skier who can sometimes out-Odermatt the man himself, when it comes to pushing the limits but somehow staying within them – and recovering with extraordinary strength when he doesn’t.
Von Allmen was smooth and direct, finding speed everywhere. He landed on his heels after a huge jump but just stayed upright, and survived the technical Ciaslat section.
It was a ragged edged glory, +0.30 seconds faster than his compatriot. The many fans in attendance certainly appreciated it.
“They are a pretty cool crowd, there was really some energy in the finish area,” said Von Allmen. “its really cool, especially when they make a lot of noise for the other teammates, not just for me. It’s really cool, I didn’t expect it at all,” he said of the victory. “It’s really cool to share the podium with Marco, and to change sometimes – sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s him.”
Odermatt was effusive as ever about his 24-year-old teammate. “The last two Downhills I could win, and he was second, I think it was fair that he could win today and I could be second,” he said.
“At the moment he is, with me, probably the fastest Downhiller in the world, and we push each other. We know if someone has the perfect run, it is very hard to beat, and for sure that pushes the whole sport.”
“the light was better than yesterday, and we know exactly the line,” he said. “We were much slower in the Ciaslat than in the Super G yesterday and that made it easier. I’m very happy with my performance again. The end part of the Ciaslat was not perfect, but everything else I am very happy with.”
Odermatt maintains his lead in the Downhill standings, but there is no rest: his programme continues tomorrow, with a GS. “I will go straight to Alta Badia after the prizegiving, and try to recover to focus on another discipline.”
Florian Schieder (ITA/ Atomic), meanwhile, fired up the home crowd with a direct, buccaneering outing. He scored his third career podium, having twice been second in a Kitzbuehel Downhill.
“It was another solid run today, it was a little bit faster than Thursday, but the slope was good, and I felt at the Ciaslat the lines were good. I didn’t know about the speed. I didn’t expect it, but I’m really happy now."
With Dominik Paris (ITA/ Nordica), Mattia Casse (ITA/ Rossignol) and Giovanni Franzoni (ITA/ Rossignol) all finishing well, it has been a good weekend for Italian speed skiing.
“It’s another great result for the team, we can go to the Olympics I think, and the Italian fans can hope,” added Schieder.
Elsewhere, Nils Alphand (FRA/ Head) impressed by finishing fourth, narrowly missing out on his debut career podium.
On a day when her biggest rivals slipped up, Cornelia Huetter (AUT/Head) showed that steady — but fast — wins the race.
The Austrian veteran used a controlled run down the long Downhill course in Val d'Isère on Saturday to win in 1:41.54 from Kira Weidle-Winkelmann (GER/Rossignol, +0.26s) and Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head, +0.35s).
Chasing Weidle-Winkelmann's early lead with bib No.9, Huetter took control in the mid-section and separated herself from the pack by skiing a superb racing line that was not easy to achieve in flat light on the 2800m O.K. course. "I nailed the line perfectly during the race," said Huetter, the 2024 Downhill Crystal Globe winner. "I fought all the way down to hold my line."
Huetter's elegant performance stood in contrast to those of the two biggest names in women's Downhill skiing - Vonn and Sofia Goggia (ITA/Atomic) — who were left to rue errors that might have cost them victory.
Skiing before Huetter, Vonn held the provisional lead at multiple intermediate splits but went wide to the left after a line error in the lower mid-section to cross the line in second and then drop to third when Huetter took the lead.
Goggia, skiing later with bib No.14, built a lead of nearly half a second over Huetter but lost control in the mid-section, and a spectacular recovery could not stop her from going wide, losing time, and finishing eighth.
Breezy Johnson (USA/Atomic), Laura Pirovano (ITA/Head) and Magdalena Egger (AUT/Head) were among the other skiers who found themselves well wide of the ideal racing line at certain points on the course.
Huetter, however, had no such problems despite finishing 21st and 26th in the two training runs before the race.
"After these trainings yesterday I was so bad, I was so slow," she said. "The biggest problem is I don't know why I was so slow. Today I didn't have much expectation about my speed but it turned out I'm really fast. That counts for racing, so maybe I need some pressure inside of me to put everything out (there), and today I did it."
The 33-year-old said the conditions suited her despite the light causing line problems for other skiers. "This year it was so amazing with the snow," she said." The surface was really nice so it was perfect for downhill racing."
While Huetter celebrated her 10th World Cup victory, Weidle-Winkelmann was surprisingly close to her first.
The first athlete out of the gate after being fastest in Friday's training, the German's time did not seem likely to hold up when the following skier, Ilka Stuhec (SLO/Kaestle), built a big lead at the second intermediate split.
But Stuhec, who ended up missing the podium by 0.04 seconds in fourth place, eventually fell behind the German, as did everyone else until Huetter's winning run.
"I didn't expect a podium with that run," admitted Weidle-Winkelmann, who reached her seventh World Cup podium, all in Downhill.
"The top part was quite good but the middle section, I thought I was holding too much on the line, so that's where Conny also gained a lot of time. I had a good feeling in the trainings so I know I could perform well but I also knew that Sofia and Lindsey and everyone are all great skiers. But you see today that they also make mistakes, they are also human beings, so it's nice to see that I can ski fast."
Vonn's mistakes cost her for the third race in a row following her breakthrough victory in last Friday's first St. Moritz Downhill, but she still made it three podiums from three Downhills so far this season.
"I thought it was actually not bad," said the 41-year-old, who was fastest of all at the second speed trap but only 27th fastest at the third trap after her line error.
"I thought I skied well in the middle, and then on the bottom I was carrying a lot of speed and with the light, I didn't quite see the terrain, and I lost my balance. It cost me probably half a second or more so I'm disappointed in myself for that mistake. But when you're going fast, anything can happen and I'm just happy that I hung on to the podium and the red (leader's) bib."
Vonn will farewell Val d'Isère, where she was won seven World Cup races, with her final ski down the O.K. course in Sunday's Super G.
