"Giovanni Franzoni delivered the performance of his life on Friday, January 16, storming to victory in the men's Super-G in Wengen, Switzerland, and dedicating the emotional win to his late friend and former teammate Matteo Franzoso. Franzoso had died in a tragic training crash in Chile in September. The two had been best friends and roommates on the World Cup circuit."
"Franzoni's run was so impressive, even legendary Marco Odermatt had to admit to the Italian after the race, "I saw your run and I said that's No.1-so clean, so easy." And in fact, Franzoni's run proved untouchable. One by one, the world's best tried to match his pace, but none could deny Franzoni his first-ever World Cup victory-and on one of alpine skiing's most storied stages, the famous Lauberhorn."
"The victory was particularly meaningful given Franzoni's history on the Lauberhorn. Three years ago, he crashed heavily on the course, suffering a serious hamstring injury that derailed his progress. "It's completely unbelievable," he said afterward. "I crashed here three years ago and struggled a lot to recover. Mentally, I grew up really, really a lot.""
Giovanni Franzoni won the men's Super-G in Wengen on January 16, stopping the clock in 1:45.19. He dedicated the emotional victory to his late friend and former teammate Matteo Franzoso, who died in a training crash in Chile in September. Franzoni opened the race with bib 1 and produced a near-flawless run that drew praise from Marco Odermatt. Stefan Babinsky finished second, 0.35 seconds back for his first World Cup podium, and Franjo von Allmen took third. Franzoni combined early speed and precise flow through the Kernen-S and the technical lower section to seal the win. He had suffered a serious hamstring crash on the Lauberhorn three years earlier and described the victory as completely unbelievable after a difficult recovery.
Read at SnowBrains
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