Czech skiers have a knack for pulling off the unexpected in super-G races.
First there was Ester Ledecká’s unforgettable win at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, wearing low-ranked bib No. 26. And on Friday, Jan Zabystran was even more of a long shot as he became the first Czech man to earn a World Cup win in the 60 years of the Alpine skiing circuit.
It took that level of historic achievement and some late sunshine at Val Gardena in Italy to deny Marco Odermatt yet another World Cup victory.
The unheralded Zabystran started Friday’s super-G wearing bib No. 29 with Swiss superstar Odermatt sitting in the leader’s box by the finish area looking likely to follow up Thursday’s downhill victory.
But Zabystran — who only had one top-10 result in his previous 56 World Cup races — stunned the field by taking advantage of the better light to finish 0.22 seconds ahead of Odermatt.
“It’s a beautiful day,” Zabystran said. “I saw the green light, it’s something crazy.”
Quirky Italian course
He is not the first surprise winner at Val Gardena, which is suited to such quirks. The sunshine can arrive late on the course nestled in the spiky Dolomites mountains to light the way for late starters. That can sometimes upend the standings — just as it did Friday.
Zabystran was fastest on the sun-bathed bottom part of the course, but he also posted the quickest split in the top section to show his win was not all luck.
Odermatt had raced about 50 minutes earlier, when he had been impressively aggressive while skiing in darker light just before midday.
“I did everything I could,” Odermatt said. “The light was so flat you couldn’t see much. We know Val Gardena is different, you have to wait till the last guy.”
Italy’s tragic loss
Third-placed Giovanni Franzoni also got a career-best result, 0.37 back. The former world junior champion in super-G had the No. 16 start bib and was among the first racers to get blazing sunshine on the lower section, where only Zabystran was faster.
Franzoni saw his fast time and pointed to the sky in tribute to his close friend and roommate, Matteo Franzoso, who died in a crash in September while training in Chile.
“This is for him,” said the 24-year-old Franzoni, who has described Franzoso as like an older brother to him. “I think he would be proud of me.”
Other low-ranked racers to shine included No. 43 starter Matthieu Bailet in fifth and Italian veteran Christof Innerhofer sixth with a No. 30 bib immediately after Zabystran.
History of shocks
Zabystran’s was not the highest bib number among recent winners at Val Gardena. American downhiller Steven Nyman won the classic Saslong race in 2012 wearing No. 39.
The 27-year-old Czech’s previous best World Cup result was eighth place in a super-G in Norway last year. He went to the past two Winter Olympics, failed to finish six of his nine events, and with a best result of 25th.
The previous best World Cup results for the Czech men’s team was a pair of third-place finishes in combined events by Ondrej Bank in 2007 and 2015.
“After a really good last season I thought that maybe some day I can have a podium like Ondrej Bank,” Zabystran said, dedicating his win to “every sportsman who pushes hard and never stops believing in it.”
As a measure of how good Odermatt had been, he was the only one of the first 10 starters who finished with a top-10 result.
Odermatt extended his huge lead in the World Cup overall standings as he chases a fifth straight title. He also now leads the season-long super-G standings after three races.
Odermatt will again be the favorite Saturday in another downhill.
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