France's Allegre claims first World Cup win in super-G / Photo: KERSTIN JOENSSON - AFP
France's Allegre claims first World Cup win in super-G
French skier Nils Allegre claimed his first World Cup win in the super-G at Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Saturday, as the race favourites were pushed from the podium.
Allegre, a 30-year-old Frenchman finished 0.18sec ahead of Italy's Guglielmo Bosca with Swiss Loic Meillard third 0.25sec off the pace.
Marco Odermatt and Cyprien Sarrazin, who have dominated the speed events in the past month, finished off the podium.
Allegre has been on the circuit since 2016, but has never made it to the podium in 102 starts. He has been in top form this season, coming fourth at Val Gardena in December.
"What happened? I don't know," Allegre told Germany's ZDF network. "Honestly, I just had a good feeling on the snow, and my skiis are some of the best in these conditions."
Allegre said he "didn't feel too good this morning, a little bit tired. But with my experience, I know you should not trust how you feel sometimes."
Odermatt, the clear leader in the overall and super-G standings, was pushed into fourth by three hundredths of a second.
"I'm satisfied with my performance," Odermatt told ZDF.
"It's the easiest super-G that I've run in the World Cup," he said. "It's very short here, so it's hard to differentiate yourself."
It was only the second time this winter the Swiss has not finished in the top three.
"It was really soft. I thought that when they added the salt, it'd tighten up, but it didn't really pull it together. It was just extremely soft."
Austria's Vincent Kriechmayr, who won the event in 2021, finished fifth, seven hundredths of a second off a podium placing.
French rising star Sarrazin, who came into the race on the back of a stunning double at Kitzbuehel last weekend, recorded a time of 1:12:56, to finish 11th.
R.Mcintosh--EWJ
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