Three races, three podiums this week. Cyprien Sarrazin is one of the speed giants this winter. This Saturday, the high-alpine skier was up to the last big challenge that awaited him on the exhausting Lauberhorn course (Switzerland). No victory at the finish, but a very exciting second place behind the alien Marco Odermatt.
Like Thursday, for the first descent in the Wengen station, Sarrazin produced a round close to perfection. A small mistake in the last third prevented him from winning. 59 hundredths separate him from the Swiss phenomenon, king in his kingdom. However, the Frenchman is the only one to compete. Third place Dominik Paris is relegated to 1 second and 92 hundredths. His two second places come in addition to the victory obtained Friday in Super-G under the nose of Odermatt, precisely.
“It’s been a very good week. It’s a very good round. When I cross the line, six tenths behind Odermatt, I say to myself ok, perfect,” the sportsman from Dévoluy rejoiced at Eurosport. Note that his compatriots Nils Allègre (6th) and Adrien Théaux (7th) took X and X places in an event tarnished by a series of spectacular falls.
After Marco Schwarz at the end of December, Alexis Pinturault suffered a ruptured ligament in his left knee this Friday, another big name fell heavily. The Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde indeed fell at the very end of the round, ending his race in the net. He had to be airlifted after a tourniquet was placed on his right leg.
This new injury raises the question of the accumulation of races and the recovery of athletes. Everyone recognized it in front of the cameras, the organizations were considerably exhausted for this last day of racing in Wengen. “This kind of fall is always hard. It’s the life of the descender, that’s for sure. But end the week with the longest race on the circuit (4.5 km Editor’s note)… I haven’t come far from doing like him either,” commented Sarrazin about Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. “I hope this is the last time we compete in three downhills in Wengen,” lamented Odermatt, according to Eurosport.
