The Bormio Alpine Ski World Cup weekend in the Stelvio will start on December 26 and 27 with two official Downhill trainings. On Saturday, December 28, the speed specialists will compete in the classic Downhill race.
Alongside the Streif of Kitzbuhel, the Stelvio slope in Bormio is considered to be one of the most technical and spectacular slopes in the world.
Last season, in his tenth participation in Downhill in the World Cup, Cyprien Sarrazin triumphed in the Stelvio. The 30-year-old French skier achieved in Bormio his second victory and third podium in the Alpine Ski World Cup.
Bormio (ITA)
December 28th Downhill / Men 11:30 CET
The Swiss Team is currently setting the pace in the Alpine Ski World Cup, especially in the Downhill, after taking two 1-2 podiums in the first two World Cup races in this discipline.
The speed season kicked off at the Birds of Prey racetrack with a big surprise in store. Justin Murisier secured his first Alpine Ski World Cup victory by winning the World Cup Downhill at Beaver Creek. Starting with bib number 3, Murisier skied a solid run from top to bottom with hardly any mistakes. The 32-year-old Swiss skier previously achieved his only podium finish in the Giant Slalom in Alta Badia in 2020. His best Downhill result was 4th place in Bormio last season.
Marco Odermatt finished in second place in the first Downhill of the season held in Beaver Creek, just 0.20 seconds behind his teammate Justin Murisier.
Last Saturday Odermatt won the Saslong Downhill in Val Gardena. The 57th Saslong Classic closed with a big bang for the Swiss Team. Marco Odermatt led a 1-2 Swiss podium ahead of teammate Franjo von Allmen. Odermatt won the Downhill thanks to a superb performance in the Ciaslat sector. It's the first victory for Switzerland in Val Gardena since Silvan Zurbriggen's victory in 2010. The defending Downhill and Overall World Cup champion won for the first time on the Saslong racecourse. It was his 40th career World Cup Win.
Odermatt won the Men’s Downhill Crystal Globe last season. It's Odermatt’s first Downhill Globe. The Swiss ski Ace also won the Super-G title and secured the speed double. The last Swiss skier to win the Downhill Crystal Globe was Beat Feuz, who won four between 2017-2018 and 2020-2021.
The reigning world champion in the Men's Downhill added the World Cup title to his Overall, Super-G, and Giant Slalom Globes. The last man to win at least four World Cup Crystal Globes in a single season was Hermann Maier in 1999-2000 and 2001-2001 (Overall, Downhill, Giant Slalom, and Super-G in both seasons).
The only Swiss man to win at least four World Cup classifications in a single season was Pirmin Zurbriggen in 1986-1987. He won the Overall, Combination, Super-G, Downhill, and Giant Slalom titles.
Marco Odermatt finished on the podium in six of the eight Downhill events last season including a double win in Wengen.
Franjo Von Allmen finished second in Val Gardena, 0.45 seconds behind Odermatt. With his second place in the Saslong Downhill, von Allmen celebrated his first World Cup podium in the Downhill. Last season, the 23-year-old talent achieved his first World Cup podium in the Super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Ryan Cochran-Siegle finished third in Val Gardena 0.46 seconds behind Odematt completing a perfect speed weekend for the US Team after Jared Goldberg's podium in the Super-G. It's Cochran-Siegle's third podium in the World Cup, the first in almost four years, and the second in Val Gardena, after finishing second in the downhill in 2020.
Miha Hrobat finished in third place in Beaver Creek. It was the first podium in the World Cup for the Slovenian, whose best result to date had been a seventh place in the Kitzbühel Downhill in 2023.
Cyprien Sarrazin finished in ninth position in the first Downhill of the season in Beaver Creek, and 17th in Val Gardena.
Last season Sarrazin took the double Downhill win in the Streif in Kitzbühel. He finished on the podium in his last five World Cup Downhill starts (1st, 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 1st).
Sarrazin also won the Downhill in The Stelvio in Bormio and finished in second place in the two Downhills held in Wengen. He also won the Super-G in Wengen. Before Bormio, his two previous podium finishes were a victory in the Parallel Slalom in Alta Badia in 2016, and a second place in the Alta Badia Giant Slalom in 2019.
Before the start of last season, Sarrazin's best-ever World Cup Downhill result was sixth in Val Gardena in 2022.
Cyprien Sarrazin was the first French skier to win a Men's Downhill World Cup race since Adrien Théaux won in Santa Caterina on December 29, 2015.
He became the first Frenchman to win multiple Downhill World Cup races in a single season since Antoine Dénériaz won two in 2002-2003.
Vincent Kriechmayr's 55th place in Val Gardena was his worst Downhill result since 2022. Vincent Kriechmayr finished in fifth place in Beaver Creek. Kriechmayr recorded nine of his 18 World Cup wins in Downhill. His best positions last season were second place in Kvitfjell and two 5th place in Bormio and Wengen. Kriechmayr recorded World Cup Downhill podium finishes in each of the previous seven seasons (2017-2018 to 2023-2024).
Ahead of the speed events in Val Gardena, Kriechmayer had won nine Super-G and nine Downhill World Cup events. The only Men to have won at least 10 World Cup events in both Super-G and Downhill are Pirmin Zurbriggen (10 SG, 10 DH), Hermann Maier (24 SG, 15 DH) and Aksel Lund Svindal (17 SG, 14 DH).
Kriechmayr finished in fourth place on the Downhill standings last season. He has won all the European Downhill Classics -Val Gardena-Gröden, Bormio, Wengen (twice), and Kitzbühel.
The Austrian Ski Team only achieved two Top-10 places in the first two Downhills of the season.
In the 2023-2024 winter season, the Austrian Ski Team achieved only one podium place (Vincent Kriechmayr second in Kvitfjell), and in the Downhill standings only Kriechmayr (4th) made it into the Top-10 (Stefan Babinsky was 15th). The 33-year-old is the only skier in the team to have ever won a World Cup Downhill. All these facts make the Austria Ski Downhill Team the weakest Downhill team in almost four decades. You have to look back to the 1987-1988 winter season to find similarly dismal performances by the Austrian Downhill skiers.
Hope for the Austrian Ski Team in Val Gardena came from 24-year-old Stefan Eichberger. Wearing start number 56 in his fifth World Cup race, he finished in sixth place. He almost made the podium, finishing just 0.06 seconds behind third place.
Last season Dominik Paris won the second Downhill held in Val Gardena-Gröden. It was the 22nd career World Cup victory for the 34-year-old Italian skier. It was the first victory for Paris in Val Gardena Gröden.
Paris finished in third place on the Downhill standings last season. It was the sixth time he finished in third place in the downhill rankings for Paris. His best result was second in the 2018-2019 winter season.
With 18 victories in Downhill, Dominik Paris is the active male skier who won the most Downhill events in the World Cup. Only Franz Klammer (25), Peter Müller (19), and Stephan Eberharter (18) have won as many World Cup Downhill events among Men as Paris.
The Südtiroler is the King of the selective and exhausting Stelvio. The 34-year-old Italian skier won the Downhill in Bormio six times (2012, 2017, 2018, a double in 2019, and 2021).
Bryce Bennett finished in fifth place on the Downhill standings last season. He won the first Downhill race in Val Gardena-Gröden and placed third in the second race. Bennett has achieved his best results in the Dolomites ski resort: two victories, one-third place, and two-fourth place.
With two victories in the Alpine Ski World Cup, Bryce Bennett could tie Bill Johnson (3) and Steven Nyman (3) for third place on the list of USA Men's Downhill World Cup winners. Daron Rahlves (9) and Bode Miller (8) are first and second.
Update 12.26.2024: Cyprien Sarrazin posted the fastest time in the first Downhill training session in Bormio. The Frenchman clocked a time of 1:54.48, more than a second faster than Mattia Casse (+1.07). Third place went to 24-year-old Swiss skier Alexis Monney (+1.17).
Italian Mattia Casse confirmed he is among the world's fastest skiers by winning the Super-G on the Saslong in Val Gardena. He achieved his first victory in the Alpine Ski World Cup at the age of 34 during his 200th race in the competition.
Update 12.27.2024: Cyprien Sarrazin's severe fall overshadows second Downhill training in Bormio.
During the second training session for the Downhill World Cup in Bormio, Cyprien Sarrazin suffered a brutal fall just before entering the last section of the famous Stelvio track. In the lower section of the track, the Frenchman lost control and took off into the air on a wave, then crashed onto the icy ground. He then slid down the track before landing in the net. He remained there motionless for a long time. He had to be airlifted by helicopter. According to the French Ski Federation Sarrazin suffered a subdural hematoma in his fall, a bleeding between two meninges. Since this type of injury is life-threatening, Sarrazin was transferred to the intensive care unit.
The Frenchman was operated on Friday. "After further examinations and Cyprien's clinical development, it was decided in agreement with the Italian surgeons to operate on him this evening to drain the subdural hematoma."
Alexander Cameron set the fastest time in the second training. Stefan Rogentin was second +0.53 seconds behind the Canadian. Stefan Babinski was third +0.84 seconds off the pace. Sarrazin was the fastest in the first training session on Thursday and was on his way to a personal best at the time of the fall.
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