Cyprien Sarrazin continues to ride the wave of success on the Lauberhorn. In the Super-G, the Frenchman relegated Swiss ski superstar Marco Odermatt to second place. However, there was no big surprise with Aleksander Aamodt Kilde in third place. The best German was Andreas Sander.
The key points on the Lauberhorn are Hundschopf, Kernen-S and Haneggschuss. The second downhill runner, Cyprien Sarrazin, had this best under control on Friday. On the 2,950 meter long and technically demanding Super-G course, the Frenchman with start number 3 burned the fastest line in the snow. A strong announcement to the strongest competitors Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (Norway), Marco Odermatt (Switzerland) and Vincent Kriechmayr (Austria), who have been in first place in the last 20 Super-G races.
Pinturault crash overshadows the race
But just three drivers later, the race had to be interrupted for a good 25 minutes. How much risk the speed specialists are exposed to when driving quickly over the icy slopes was seen and heard when Alexis Pinturault fell badly.
The Frenchman got too much back after a jump and lost control. When he fell, he probably injured his knee and was in audible pain. He was taken to the hospital by helicopter. No information was yet available about the severity of the injury.
Odermatt only second
How well Sarrazin had ridden was shown by local hero Odermatt’s ride (+0.58 seconds). At the finish, the Swiss was almost a second behind the Frenchman. Even Kilde couldn’t dethrone the new star in the Alpine speed heaven. “He was the best today“said Odermatt on ORF. And admitted that after the fall of Pinturault he might no longer have risked everything.”Such stories and emotions are not easy“.
The DSV team is still on the road to success and was also behind the world leaders in the second race in Wengen. “The people in front like (Marco) Odermatt drive at a completely different level. Downhill sport has developed extremely over the season“, head coach Christian Schwaiger described the problems of the German speed riders before the Super-G in the ZDF interview. “The technicians set the tone. And we don’t have the perfect technicians.”
Sander and Baumann miss the top 20
On Thursday, Andreas Sander was the best German in the downhill with 18th place. In the Super-G he missed the top 20. It was bitter that the display showed a gap of 3.04 seconds at the finish. Simon Jocher (+3.18) was behind Sander. Teammate Romed Baumann was even a whopping 3.82 seconds longer than Sarazin and was therefore not among the top 30.
Thomas Dreßen wanted to protect his knee for the descent on Saturday and decided not to start.