The China Mail - Swiss Monney takes maiden World Cup win in Bormio downhill

Swiss Monney, 24, had never even taken a podium finish before Saturday but clocked one minute, 53.43 seconds in northern Italy, 0.24sec ahead of his countryman Franjo von Allmen, with Canada's Cameron Alexander finishing third.

Reigning downhill and overall World Cup champion Marco Odermatt still leads the discipline standings despite finishing 0.80sec off the pace in fifth.

Odermatt also extended his lead at the top of the general standings to 116 points over Henrik Kristoffersen, who did not compete on Saturday.

Monney's shock win was overshadowed by several practice crashes on the Stelvio piste which will host alpine skiing events at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the worst befalling France's Sarrazin.

The French ski federation said Saturday that Sarrazin underwent successful surgery to treat a subdural haematoma following his heavy crash on Friday's training run.

The 30-year-old lost control of his skis and slammed into the snow before sliding into protective netting, while Italy's Pietro Zazzi also required after suffering a double leg fracture.

Sarrazin enjoyed his best campaign on the World Cup circuit last season, with four victories including a downhill win at Bormio, but is yet to win in 2024/25.

The crashes led to a wave of criticism of the piste, with Frenchman Nils Allegre raging to Eurosport that "they don't deserve to have the Olympic Games here".

But race director Markus Waldner hit back at the athletes, saying that there was criticism of course preparations "every week" and that weather conditions ahead of training had affected the snow.

"The problem is that on Christmas Day there was a lot of wind, and we know what wind does," said Waldner.

"It dried the snow from the bottom towards the top, which explains why the snow was not uniform on the three-kilometre run, which is impossible to make uniform."

Bormio will host a super-G on Sunday, the last of a mini-run of festive season alpine skiing events in Italy.

S.Wilson--ThChM