American Bryce Bennett makes second World Cup podium in three days

Bryce Bennett of the United States scored another surprise on Saturday, returning to the podium two days after capturing his first World Cup victory in two years.

The 31-year-old from Palisades Tahoe, who started No 18th after winning from the No 34 bib on Thursday, finished third in a downhill at Val Gardena in Italy, six tenths behind Italy’s Dominik Paris and 16 hundredths behind second-placed Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway.

“Today felt better than on Thursday,” Bennett said on Saturday. “It’s a lot to deal with, and I’ve never been in that position where you ski well in a race, and then you have another opportunity the same week. So to try and get past that mentally and have a good run is, like, a huge win for me.”

According to NBC Sports, Bennett became the first US man to make multiple World Cup downhill podiums in one season since Steven Nyman in 2015-16 – and the 6ft 7in Californian has done it in the first two downhills of the season.

Paris, 34, survived a long wait in the leader’s chair before securing the 18th World Cup downhill win of his career to move level with Stephan Eberharter in third place on the all-time list. Only Franz Klammer (25) and Peter Müller (19) have more downhill wins than Paris.

Most of Paris’ wins came before he tore up his knee in a crash while training in January 2020.

He won three races afterward but his last victory came in Kvitfjell in March 2022. Since then, Paris had finished on the podium only once. He finished 11th in another downhill in Val Gardena on Thursday as the men’s World Cup speed season finally got underway, but was a paltry 55th in a super-G on Friday.

But a fast and ferocious run on the Saslong course saw Paris finish 0.44 seconds ahead of Kilde, who could only smile wryly and applaud from the winner’s chair.

“You see Dominik now is back where he belongs,” Kilde said. “He’s a great skier and of course he’s been struggling here for some years but when you ski the way he executed today it’s fun to see and it’s really fun for Italians to have a home victory.”

Paris was the only skier to clock under two minutes.

It also broke a sort of taboo for Italy on one of its home courses as the last Italian to win a downhill on the Saslong was Kristian Ghedina in 2001.

It was only the second downhill of the season after speed races in Beaver Creek, Colorado, were canceled a couple of weeks ago. Thursday’s race was rescheduled from the yet-to-be-run Zermatt-Cervinia cross-border event last month.

There are giant slalom races in nearby Alta Badia on Sunday and Monday for a series of five races in five days.

Jasmine Flury claimed only her second World Cup win as the Swiss skier triumphed in a downhill race on Saturday at the French track of Val-d’Isere, while Sofia Goggia moved to the top of the discipline standings in the absence of Mikaela Shiffrin.

Flury was 0.22 seconds ahead of compatriot Joana Haehlen and 0.24 faster than Austrian skier Cornelia Huetter in a race that was delayed because of a horrific crash for Stefanie Fleckenstein.

Flury’s only other World Cup win in her career was a super-G in her native Switzerland six years ago although the 30-year-old recorded a surprise victory in the world championships in February.

“After the world championship, now to win also a World Cup race, it takes a little bit of pressure again off me and I’m just really happy,” Flury said.

“It was a wild run. It was really tricky, the slope was a little bit more bumpy than yesterday and I just tried to have a good pressure on the outside ski and go until the finish line.”

Racing with bib No 6 and with most of the pre-race favorites skiing after her, it seemed unlikely Flury would remain in the leader’s chair but none of them even managed to make the podium.

Haehlen equaled her career-best World Cup result in any discipline by finishing second for the third time.

“It’s perfect, to share the podium with Jasmine is what you dream when you’re a young racer,” the 31-year-old said.

Standout downhill racer Goggia, who admitted afterward that she was far from her best form and was also suffering from a cold, was fourth, 0.44 behind Flury after a mistake in the second part of the OK course, which is named after French skiing greats Henri Oreiller and Jean-Claude Killy.

Jasmine Flury of Switzerland wins a cow after placing first in Saturday’s downhill in Val d’Isere, France. Photograph: Michel Cottin/Agence Zoom/Getty Images

Goggia nevertheless moved into the discipline lead. The Italian, who has topped the World Cup downhill standings in each of the past three seasons, has 17 more points than Flury and 20 more than Huetter.

Shiffrin, who won the only other downhill so far this season last week, is 30 points behind Goggia. The American is selective picking her downhills – to fit a race and training schedule that prioritizes slalom and giant slalom – and opted to skip Saturday’s race.

The race was interrupted for about 20 minutes so Fleckenstein could be treated and stretchered off the course. The Canadian skier crashed right at the end of her run and slid over the finishing line, yelling in pain. Other athletes covered their eyes and ears as Fleckenstein’s screams of agony could be clearly heard.

Shiffrin still leads the overall World Cup standings where she is bidding for a record-tying sixth title. She has a 163-point lead over 2020 champion Federica Brignone, with 2016 winner Lara Gut-Behrami 28 points further back.

There is a super-G scheduled for Sunday in Val d’Isere.