At the World Cup final in Kvitfjell, the Swiss are lagging behind the competition in the first downhill training session. Nevertheless, Marco Odermatt hopes that there will be no further training. He has seen enough.
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- At the World Cup final in Kvitfjell, the Swiss are trailing the competition in the first downhill training session.
- Franjo von Allmen takes last place, over 3 seconds behind.
- Marco Odermatt loses over a second on the best time and hopes that there will be no further training on Friday. He prefers to preserve the slope for the race.
The rankings of the downhill training sessions often say little about the true balance of power, as many racers only really get serious in the race. The World Cup final should be no different. And so there's no need to worry if the Swiss don't keep up with the fastest racers on Thursday.
There have been eight downhill races in the World Cup this season, with the winner coming from Switzerland six times. Marco Odermatt has four victories to his name and Franjo von Allmen, who also triumphed at the Olympic Games, has two. There was at least one Swiss on the podium in every race, and there was even a triple victory to celebrate in Garmisch-Partenkirchen at the end of February.
Seven Swiss athletes qualified for the World Cup final of the best 25 downhill racers of the season. However, none of them impressed in the first training session, in which 24 racers took part.
Stefan Rogentin finished in 9th place, making him the best Swiss skier. He lost 0.73 seconds on Miha Hrobat's best time. Alexis Monney (14th), Marco Odermatt (15th), Alessio Miggiano (20th), Justin Murisier (22nd), Niels Hintermann (23rd) and Franjo von Allmen (24th) lose between 1.18 and 3.10 seconds on the Slovenian.
Odermatt does not want a second training run
The snow conditions are even more of a talking point than the training performances. In a video shared on Instagram, race director Marcus Waldner explains that the slope had to be treated with salt due to the warm temperatures.
Odermatt is asked about the conditions in an interview with "Blick" and expresses a special wish: "It's so slow that no further training is needed. That's why it would be better if the track could be spared for the race." It remains to be seen whether his suggestion will be listened to. The second downhill training session would take place on Friday and the race on Saturday.
While Odermatt has already secured the small crystal globe, Olympic downhill champion Franjo von Allmen, the slowest in the first training session, still has to defend second place in the discipline rankings. However, a lot would have to go wrong for him to lose this place. His lead over third-placed Italian Giovanni Franzoni is 81 points.