Downhill: Val Gardena/Gröden King Nyman is Unbeatable
Steven Nyman has done it again: after capturing gold in 2006 and 2012, the US boy wins his third World Cup title and also third Val Gardena/Gröden podium on the Saslong. Nobody even came close to his performance, with the exception of current World Cup Downhill dominator Kjetil Jansrud (NOR, +0.31). Third place goes to local favorite Dominik Paris (ITA, +1.15).
Steven Nyman already revealed during the training run that he is the force to be reckoned with on the Saslong. The 32-year-old from Provo, UT in the USA is a true Val Gardena/Gröden specialist. Since his debut 12 years ago, all of his three World Cup titles were celebrated here and this year he arrived highly recommended with a third place on Beaver Creek’s Bird of Prey.
Nyman has managed to ski the only hitch-free run from top to bottom. He outpaced the competition by over one second in the middle part of the course, to the Camel Humps, and also from the exit of Ciaslat to the Finish where he was clearly the fastest along with Kjetil Jansrud. Which is also why Jansrud was the one who could somewhat keep up with Nyman, keeping his delay to 0.31 seconds only.
Third place went to Dominik Paris. The South Tyrolean already proved that he is in great shape during the races in North America and on Wednesday’s training run. He captured bronze with a delay of 1.15 seconds at the same time settling a score with the course after coming to a fall in Ciaslat during last year’s training for the Downhill when he suffered a tedious muscle injury. And talking of the Saslong, the course is clearly very demanding and tiring due to the thin layer of snow this year. The jumps, especially the one over the Camel Humps, kept racers in the air and the Ciaslat was bumpier than ever.
In fact, the forces of Ciaslat came to a full demonstration when Florian Scheiber fell. The Austrian took off from a wave and was literally spun through the air.
A strong team showing for both the French and the Swiss, who are placed two (Fayed, Clarey) and four skiers (Zurbriggen, Freuz, Defago and Küng) in the top ten, respectively. Best skier from Austria was Olympic Champion Mayer in 7th place.
The program here in Val Gardena/Gröden continues with tomorrow’s Super-G starting at 12:15pm.