Dominik Paris dominates downhill for another Bormio win

BORMIO, Italy — Icy, bumpy, dark and gnarly.

The Stelvio course is skiing’s version of heavy metal. Which is why it fits Dominik Paris, the World Cup circuit’s resident heavy metal singer, so perfectly.

Paris dominated again for his record-extending seventh victory in Bormio on Tuesday and sixth in downhill — making him the first skier to win as many downhills at a single resort. The Italian broke a tie with Swiss standout Didier Cuche, who won five downhills in Kitzbühel, Austria.

Using his massive legs to absorb the Stelvio’s punishing terrain, Paris finished 0.24 seconds ahead of overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt of Switzerland and 0.80 ahead of another Swiss skier, Niels Hintermann.

“I gave my maximum from the top to the bottom,” Paris said. “I like it here and I believe in myself. This course is rough and tough. When you’ve given your all here you’re satisfied at the finish.”

While officially no fans were permitted to attend the race because of anti-coronavirus measures, there were still plenty of cheers for Paris all the way down as recreational skiers tried to get as close to the race course as they could.

Paris’ other downhill wins in Bormio came in 2012 followed by four straight from 2017-19. He also won a super-G on the Stelvio in 2018.

With the 16th World Cup downhill win of his career, Paris moved ahead of Franz Heinzer and Hermann Maier into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time list. Only Franz Klammer (25), Peter Müller (19) and Stephan Eberharter (18) have more downhill wins than Paris.

Most of Paris’ wins came before he tore apart his knee in a crash while training in January 2020.

“The skiing is back and my confidence is back,” Paris said.

Odermatt put down what appeared to be a near-perfect run just before Paris started but the Swiss skier hardly had time to sit down in the leader’s seat before the Italian beat him.

Still, Odermatt extended his lead in the overall standings to 286 points.

Paris moved to the top of the downhill standings, 10 points ahead of Matthias Mayer, who struggled to a 12th-place finish.

Paris has never won the season-long downhill title and has made that his main goal for the season — ahead of winning a gold medal at the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Other top racers also struggled.

Swiss standout Beat Feuz lost control going over some bumps midway down and fell. Feuz, who has won the season-long World Cup downhill title four consecutive times, slid down the mountain but avoided the safety nets.

Urs Kryenbuehl, another Swiss skier, plowed through a gate on the upper section of the course and also failed to finish.

Paris can add to his Bormio total with super-G races scheduled for the Stelvio on Wednesday and Thursday.

At 32, Paris will hope to keep skiing until the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics, when the men will race on the Stelvio.

Travis Ganong was the top Amerian in eighth place, leading three Americans into the top 20.

“It was a really solid run,” Ganong reflected. “I think Bormio is where I had my first top 10 in my career and my first World Cup points, I believe, in downhill…I’ve had a lot of good races here over the years. It’s so icy and so different from all of the downhills we’ve been on all season, so it’s like the first real test of the year in downhill. It’s gnarly, it’s scary, it’s bumpy—people pulled out of the race because of the conditions…classic Bormio style.”

Ganong tested a new pair of skis, with a new plate and a new binding, after skiing on them in the second training run. He said, “…it was different but in a good way. After one run on them, I thought ‘OK, I know what to expect now,’ and it was the right choice, obviously, because I had a good feeling on the snow today and I felt like I could play with the hill, which is not easy to do in Bormio because most of the time you’re just playing catch-up and not in charge, and it’s a fight. The feeling I had today was more like I was in charge and I was able to play with the hill. In one section, particularly,” he reflected, “coming into the traverse…I totally changed my plan mid-turn and went dead-straight, threw the skis sideways for a sec and locked in and from there down I was second from that split all the way to the finish behind Odermatt. So yeah, solid skiing.” 

Jared Goldberg snagged 15th, making it his best result of the season so far, while Ryan Cochran-Siegle landed in 20th. Steven Nyman finished just outside of the points, in 31st by one-hundredth of a second. Erik Arvidsson was 37th, Bryce Bennett 39th, and Sam Morse 46th. 

RESULTS

The Associated Press and the U.S. Ski Team Press Office contributed to this report