Negomir leads U.S. Ski Team for second day in a row at Val Gardena
Gabriele Facciotti/AP photo
One day after posting a career-best 11th-place finish in the downhill at Val Gardena, Kyle Negomir led the U.S. Ski Team in Friday’s World Cup super-G as well. The former Ski and Snowboard Club Vail athlete finished 19th in a time of 1 minute 25.95 seconds.
“I think I was proud of the way I came out and attacked it,” stated Negomir, who was in fifth after the first sector and had the sixth-best second interval as well.
“I think the top of the course — I was on a quite good run and got a little bit caught up in the middle,” he continued. “And the bottom (I) made some small mistakes that on a relatively simple super-G like this cost a lot of time.”
Jan Zabystran of Czech Republic took his first World Cup win as Marco Odermatt — who currently leads the GS, super-G, downhill and overall standings — came in second, 0.22 back. Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni rounded out the podium in third.
Zabystran came into the event having just one top-10 result to his name. The 27-year-old placed 32nd on Thursday and started with bib 29 on Friday.
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“So I thought today, just go, it can be at least top 30. Then I saw the green light — it is crazy,” he said after becoming the first Czech athlete to win a men’s World Cup alpine ski race.
“I am really happy for the first win for Czech. And also for the German guys (I train with) because they can beat me on training, and they will see that this is possible,” Zabystran continued. “For the whole of our team and our co-operation with the German team, it is a really good push for all of us.”
“I am very happy with my performance. The light was so flat, I couldn’t see much,” Odermatt told FIS. “We know Val Gardena is different, you have to wait until the last guy. Congrats to Jan. But I’m also happy with my performance.”
Bryce Bennett and Sam Morse were the only other Americans to score World Cup points, coming in 26th and 30th. Edwards skier River Radamus hopped into the speed event as well, placing 31st. Ryan Cochran-Siegle finished 35th and the other American starter, Jared Goldberg, did not finish.
Compared to Thursday’s fog, Friday’s conditions were quite an improvement. The weather forecast looks favorable for Saturday’s final race, a full downhill.
“I think it’s you know a really nice change of pace to finally have a race with sun,” Negomir said. “It’s been awhile this year where we actually had conditions like this. And with the history our team has had on this hill, I think it will be a good day.”
