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(L-R) Second placed Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, winner Italy's Giovanni Franzoni and third placed France's Maxence Muzaton celebrate on the podium after the Men's Downhill event of the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Kitzbuhel. Barbara Gindl/APA/dpa
Giovanni Franzoni claimed his first career downhill World Cup victory in the most prestigious race of the season when the young Italian pipped Swiss great Marco Odermatt in Kitzbühel on Saturday.
Nine days after his maiden victory on the circuit in the Wengen super-g, Franzoni also delivered in the downhill when he conquered the treacherous Streif piste at the famed Austrian resort in 1 minute 52.31 seconds.
World Cup leader Odermatt trailed by a mere seven-hundredths of a second as he missed out on a first Kitzbühel downhill victory yet again with a third runner-up finish, the day after a second super-g success at the venue.
French skier Maxence Muzaton was a surprise third with high bib 29, .39 of a second behind Franzoni.
"It is crazy, I am shaking right now. I felt the energy, the crowd, on the slope. I live for these emotions," Franzoni told German broadcasters ARD.
Odermatt did not hide his disappointment, saying: "It was about the victory, I knew it, everyone knew it. That's sport. it is not nice when it doesn't work out."
Florian Schieder was a fourth in a strong Italian showing less than a fortnight before the start of their Milan/Cortina home Olympics, with three-time race winner Dominik Paris seventh and Mattia Casse 11th.
Looking ahead at the Olympic races, Franzoni said: "I don't know, right know I try to enjoy today. I will ariive with a lot of confidence."
Franzoni, who has also dominated two training runs, is the first non-Swiss downhill winner of the season as Odermatt had won three of the previous four and Franjo von Allmen the other.
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