Val Gardena is always good for a surprise; the Dolomites have always written their own rules when it comes to ski racing. On Friday, this surprise bore the name Jan Zabystran and the Czech flag behind it.
The winner of the day was actually already decided: Once again it was Marco Odermatt, who sat in the red leader’s chair and let the Italian sun shine on his face. From start number 15 onwards, the racers seemed to get closer to the front ranks – as is often the case on the Saslong – and the snow seemed to have gotten faster. The Italian Giovanni Franzoni, for example, raced to second place with start number 16. But surely no one can endanger the great Odermatt, who won the downhill the day before on the same route?
When Jan Zabystran stood in the starting house, the Swiss probably didn’t suspect anything bad. It wasn’t until the first split time – Zabystran was nine hundredths of a second ahead – that “Odi”, as his fans call him, must have become a little nervous. At the second intermediate time, the lead had increased somewhat – despite the Czech’s round line and a controlled run. And at the finish: -0.22 seconds. The blue one. The green bar. The crowd in Val Gardena went wild, Zabystran threw his arms in the air, celebrated, clenched his fist – and Odermatt clapped.
First World Cup victory for Czech man
The Czech has never stood on a World Cup podium before, his best result to date in the highest league of ski racing: an 8th place in Kvitfjell last season. The ZDF presenter who brought Zabystran also showed that Zabystran is not a common name in the Ski World Cup and is a rare guest in TV interviews “Jan from the Czech Republic” moderated.
Who can you blame? Zabystran is the first Czech to win a World Cup. So far, only women from the country had won the World Cup: the Olympic champion Ester Ledecka, who is also a successful snowboarder, and the former slalom specialist Sara Zarobska (later Strachova). To date, only Ondrej Bank has achieved a podium finish for Czech men, most recently in Kitzbühel in 2015.
Also a small victory for the DSV
In the speed sector, it is rare for athletes from small skiing nations to celebrate great success. In the slalom, the British, a Greek and a Belgian draw attention to themselves. Super-G and downhill training, on the other hand, is incredibly complex – in order to be able to train the disciplines regularly at a high level, athletes like Zabystran have to join other teams.
The Czech has been training with the German Ski Association’s speed team for some time. For the winning team photo, Zabystran, the only Czech speed rider in the World Cup, posed with the DSV crew, sitting on Simon Jocher’s shoulders and surrounded by the rest of the German team.
“This is beautiful”
Even if the DSV athletes Romed Baumann (17th) and Simon Jocher (29th) did not manage to surprise, there was also a bit of DSV in the sensation of the Saslong on Friday.
During Zabystran’s interview on ZDF a little later, some athletes were still up there, and the Czech’s nervous gaze kept wandering to the screen in the finish area. “Seeing the green light and sitting in the leader’s chair is wonderful.”said the 27-year-old.
Zabystran only really celebrated the victory when all 66 runners had started – and the first victory for a Czech man was sealed.