Alpine Skiing - FIS Alpine Ski World Cup - Men's Downhill - Kitzbuehel, Austria - January 24, 2026 Italy's Giovanni Franzoni in action REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
KITZBUEHEL, Austria, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Italy's Giovanni Franzoni swept to a stunning Kitzbuehel downhill victory on Saturday to keep Swiss favourite Marco Odermatt still waiting to win the biggest race of the Alpine World Cup ski season.
Second out of the start hut, the former world junior champion plunged down the fearsome Streif piste to take his first career downhill victory with a time of one minute 52.31 seconds.
Odermatt, who started the Hahnenkamm weekend with a narrow win in Friday's super-G, was the 12th man down the mountain and missed out by 0.07 as Franzoni celebrated with high-fives from his teammates.
Odermatt -- twice a runner-up in the Kitzbuehel downhill but still not a winner -- glanced at the timing screen and came to a halt, head down in disappointment and leaning heavily on his ski poles after his exertions.
"I feel stupid that I can be that disappointed about second place here in Kitzbuehel but we all knew that today victory was my big goal, my big dream," said the runaway overall World Cup leader. "I didn't make it."
France's Maxence Muzaton finished an astonishing third after putting everything on the line with bib 29 and long after the podium looked to be settled, with later starters setting some surprising times.
Italy's Florian Schieder was fourth and France's Nils Allegre fifth in a blue riband race watched by a cast of sporting luminaries including former Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp and Austria's 1976 Olympic champion Franz Klammer.
FRANZONI'S SECOND CAREER VICTORY
The victory was Franzoni's career second after winning this month's Wengen super-G and further burnished the 24-year-old's credentials as a gold medal candidate for his home Milano Cortina Olympics next month.
As a string of big guns failed to match his time, the tears of emotion began to flow.
"It's just crazy, just my second time here (in Kitzbuehel), to be first," he said. Taking that first podium in Wengen was a dream.
"I knew that I was fast in the final part, but it was scary. I am happy. After the training I had a little insecurity, I wasn't so good. But I was fast in the middle part, and today it made a difference."
Switzerland had won all four downhills before Saturday, Odermatt taking three and teammate Franjo Von Allmen triumphant in Val Gardena last month.
The two Swiss stayed one-two in the downhill standings, with Odermatt 165 points clear at the top after three wins and two second places. Von Allmen finished equal 16th after a big error and recovery in the closing stages.
"Many things need to fit together to fight for the top spot, and you never know when will be the next time," Odermatt added.
"I was very happy with the run. I could ski my plan and it was a very good plan. But Giovanni was seven hundredths faster. It was not enough."
Odermatt also increased his lead in the overall World Cup standings to 667 points over Norwegian-born Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen.
The speed racers move on to Crans Montana next week, the last World Cup event before the Milano-Cortina Olympics where Odermatt will target multiple golds.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin and Martyn Herman in London, editing by Ken Ferris)
