The South Tyrolean ski racer Dominik Paris won the classic in Val Gardena. The veteran raced to his 22nd World Cup success in the descent on the legendary Saslong on Saturday. The 34-year-old last triumphed in Kvitfjell, Norway, in March 2022.
The Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde came second (+0.44 seconds). In third place, American Bryce Bennett (+0.60) confirmed his strong form. Bennett had won the shortened descent with a high starting number on Thursday, which had been added to the program for the canceled season opener in Zermatt.
The German athletes disappointed and all clearly missed the top ten. Andreas Sander only finished 19th, 1.61 seconds behind. The Ennepetaler had to struggle with the consequences of his training fall on Tuesday, which is why he was happy with his performance given the circumstances. “The pain was almost unbearable,” he said: “It really couldn’t be any more.”
Josef Ferstl (+1.92 seconds/25th place), Thomas Dreßen (+1.94/26th) and Romed Baumann (+1.99/28th) showed a weak team performance and collected a few consolation points almost at the same time .
Dreßen, winner of the legendary Streif in Kitzbühel in 2018, struggled particularly with his performance in the upper section of the route. He could see that this race hadn’t gone the way he had imagined either. “Sobering is now wrong,” said Dreßen, assessing his performance, but: “Of course I hoped for more. I probably just didn’t drive well.”
18th place in the Super-G on Friday should have given him a boost, but the 30-year-old is actually not making any progress: “What I’m still missing is the necessary self-confidence in certain passages and also the coolness.”
Achim Dreis Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 Elisabeth Schmelzerl, Val Gardena Published/Updated: Achim Dreis, Zermatt Published/Updated: Recommendations: 8
Sports director Wolfgang Maier commented on the German overall results with disillusionment: “The emotional situation is not that great right now, we are not at the top,” he said, clearly dissatisfied.
Maier has already identified one reason for the entire team’s poor performance so far. “We are not determined enough, not focused enough,” he complained and emphasized: “Either you go completely in, or you are passed through like we are right now. They simply drive too passively. You don’t have to take it personally, but that’s just how it is. It’s called a racing driver, not a beautiful driver.”
A prime example was the winner Paris, who won on the Saslong for the first time. “It’s hard to believe that I can do something like that,” he said with a smile and added, “It wasn’t clean, but it was quick enough.”
