Italy's Giovanni Franzoni celebrates maiden Super-G win of career in Wengen

Giovanni Franzoni in action
Giovanni Franzoni in actionReuters / Denis Balibouse

Giovanni Franzoni gave Olympic hosts Italy a ‍first men's World Cup win of the Alpine ski season with his own career ​first victory in a super-G on Wengen's famed Lauberhorn piste on Friday.

The 24-year-old was first out ‌of the start hut with bib number one ‌on a crisp and sunny morning and stayed top as others failed to come close to his benchmark time of one minute 45.19 seconds.

Austria's Stefan ⁠Babinsky was second, 0.35 slower after starting fourth, with ‌home Swiss hope Franjo von Allmen third and 0.37 ​off the pace.

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, the overall World Cup and super-G leader as well as a big medal favourite for next month's Milano Cortina Olympics, could manage only fourth from ‌12th on the starting list.

The podium was Franzoni's career second, after finishing third in a Val Gardena super-G in December, and with the ⁠Olympics looming indicated the Italian was coming good at just the right time.

Teammates Dominik Paris, Guglielmo Bosca and Marco Abbruzzese all failed to finish Friday's race, the fifth super-G of the season.

The Italian women's team have had one win so far this season with Sofia Goggia, also in super-G.

Austrian Marco Schwarz, winner of the previous super-G on Italian snow in ⁠Livigno, did not start the race after ‌suffering from flu and returning home.

Odermatt remained comfortably ahead in the super-G standings with 325 points, 94 clear of Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr who was 12th on Friday. Franzoni ⁠is third overall, 107 off the ​lead.

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