Sarrazin wins as Schwarz’s season ends with knee injury
BORMIO, ITALY >> Overall World Cup leader Marco Schwarz suffered a season- ending knee injury Thursday at an eventful downhill on the Stelvio, one of the circuit’s most demanding courses, that was won by French skier Cyprien Sarrazin.
Schwarz damaged his right knee when he caught a bump before getting thrown off the course halfway through the Austrian’s run. He was taken off the hill by a helicopter and brought to a clinic in Innsbruck, Austria.
The Austrian Ski Federation said on X, formerly Twitter, that Schwarz tore his ligaments and the inside meniscus, and bruised a bone, adding that he “has to end the season prematurely.”
Last week, Schwarz overtook two-time defending overall champion Marco Odermatt as leader of the season rankings after winning a night slalom, but his exit from Thursday’s race sent the Swiss skier back to the top.
Odermatt, the GS world champion, came runner-up as he was edged out by Sarrazin by 0.09 seconds as the Frenchman surprisingly won the classic race on the icy and bumpy course to end an eight-year wait by the French team for a World Cup downhill victory.
“The best feeling ever,” said Sarrazin, who screamed “whoohoo” and stuck his tongue out after finishing.
“It means the world for me, after all the injuries, all the bad moments and good moments of my career. Today I feel great, so, so good.”
Canadian racer Cameron Alexander, the world championship bronze medalist, finished 1.23 behind in third.
“Finally, I did a great run from the first gate to the finish line,” Sarrazin said. “I felt so great and I pushed all along, I think it’s crazy. When I crossed the finish line, I said: ‘ Yes, you did your job.’ It’s perfect.”
Sarrazin earned the second victory in his injury-marred career after winning a parallel giant slalom seven years ago in only his seventh World Cup start. The last French downhill winner was Adrien Theaux, who triumphed at another Italian venue, Santa Catarina, in December 2015.
Sarrazin’s win came less than two weeks after he finished a career-best fourth in the Val Gardena downhill.
The Frenchman then posted the fastest time in one of the training runs on the Stelvio this week, but didn’t regard himself a contender for the win.
“Just be yourself and see what happens,” he said when asked about his mindset before the race.