Bib 29. Jan Zabystran won the super-G on the Saslong in Val Gardena on Friday in 1:24.86, 0.22 seconds ahead of Marco Odermatt, with Giovanni Franzoni third. It was the 27-year-old’s first World Cup win, his first World Cup podium, and the first World Cup win by a Czech man in any alpine discipline.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan ZabystranCZE | CZE | 1:24.86 |
| 2 | Marco OdermattSUI | SUI | +0.22 |
| 3 | Giovanni FranzoniITA | ITA | n/a |
| 4 | Nils AllègreFRA | FRA | n/a |
| 9 | Vincent KriechmayrAUT | AUT | n/a |
Straight, on a course set straight
Zabystran’s explanation was one sentence: he went as straight as possible. The setting let him. The gates were set direct, with fewer rollers and jumps than he had expected, which on the Saslong means the Camel Humps and the pitch below them punish hesitation rather than aggression. Flat light, a track getting faster through the day, and a course that favoured the skiers prepared to carry speed into terrain they could not fully read.
From bib 29 he went straighter than the seeded group and took 0.22 off a man who had won three of the previous six races. Odermatt, who had been second after his own run, knew what the hill does: he said you have to wait until the last man in Val Gardena.
Zabystran had been 32nd in Thursday’s downhill on the same course. He trains with a German group.
The Czech record before this
The archive, which holds every World Cup podium from 1966/67 on, lists four Czech athletes with podiums. Two are women: Ester Ledecká (four wins) and Šárka Strachová (two). The only Czech man with World Cup podiums before Friday was Ondřej Bank, with two and no win. Zabystran’s podium was his country’s first by a man since Bank’s, and the win is the first of any kind.
Numbers
- 29: his bib.
- 40: World Cup races before his first win, on the FIS count.
- 1: his career World Cup podiums, which is also his career wins.
- 0.22: the margin over the eventual overall and super-G champion.
- 8: first-time World Cup winners in 2025/26. He was the fourth.
Franjo von Allmen won Saturday’s downhill on the same hill, with Odermatt second, a day after Odermatt had won Thursday’s. Three days, three different winners on the Saslong.