Beijing 2022 Olympics, downhill: Paris fifth. The yellow of Mattia Casse

From our correspondent Simone Battaggia

February 4th
– YANQING (China)

As expected, the strong wind sweeping the Yanqing mountains gave a relative respite at 12, allowing the second of three tests to be held in view of the men’s downhill on Sunday (11 am, 4 am in Italy). Relative because the times, however, have been affected by the gusts, which have touched everyone, in different points and with different directions. In the end, however, the accounts add up, because the best time is set by Aleksander Aamodt Kilde in 1’43 “72, ahead of the Austrian Max Franz (at 8 tenths) and the Canadian Broderick Thompson, at 20 cents. Dominik Paris has the fifth time at 47/100, Christof Innerhofer the 9th at 57/100, Matteo Marsaglia the 26th at 1 ”10. In the first places of the ranking there are also athletes not used to the first positions such as the Slovenian Miha Hrobat, fourth, and the Spaniard Adur Etxezarreta, seventh after yesterday’s second position. “Lottery” is a word that used a lot in the mixed zone, among athletes from all countries. Very direct the French Johan Clarey: “If you take the right wind, go strong, otherwise not”.

The declarations of the Azzurri

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So Dominik Paris after the second test: “I tried to ski a little more. The feeling wasn’t bad, but with so much wind it was hard to understand. It spins a lot, it’s hard to understand, it hits you, at any moment I felt my feet slipping away. The important thing, however, was to try the lines, take sensations from the snow and from the bumps and this went well. Tomorrow I will go down quite calmly, there are a couple of points that I will try to do better. The blunt jump? I’m a bit sorry because that was a particular point, a lot of tactics were needed. Now it seems a bit easier for everyone, for me it was better because it used to count more on that corner ”. Christof Innerhofer: “Good sensations and passages. There was a lot of wind and it is difficult to make comparisons with the others, if you catch a gust of wind in an intermediate you can lose even five tenths. One takes the wind above, one below, one in the middle: the times are very close, but looking at the partials you notice the differences. The first blunt jump? I had clear ideas, they told me to brake less and instead I had to do it as I had in mind. Unfortunately I slept there, I wasn’t active enough, I braked too little. They blunt but it didn’t get that easy. It remains a difficult step. The wind? We skied, but it’s a lottery. There were really strong gusts, where I thought I had wind in favor, I found it against. It takes luck, but he doesn’t think about it. Only luck will not be enough for you ”. Matteo Marsaglia: “I hope the third test will take place, because the snow has changed, I expected it to be different, I need to try other things. The wind will be a determining factor “.

Speakers

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Meanwhile, the Fisi has formalized the presence of Mattia Casse in Beijing. According to a note, “it is available to the Italian team, in consideration of the small number of Italian athletes in alpine skiing and the frequency of close contacts that are emerging in these first days of the Games”. The story remains unclear: Casse is not in fact a reserve, which as such could be at the start in the event of an injury (or positive Covid) of a companion. In all likelihood, however, after the descent there will be room to make a technical choice in view of the super-G on Tuesday: in the run-off the same Casse and Marsaglia, who of the three Azzurri is the one with the worst results this season in the super-G.