Sawt Falasteen - Italy's Franzoni wins Wengen super-G for maiden World Cup victory

The 24-year-old, who had topped the two training runs on the famed Lauberhorn course during the week, clocked 1min 45.19sec to top the podium, 0.35sec ahead of Austria's Stefan Babinsky.

Swiss racer Franjo von Allmen rounded out the podium, two-hundredths behind the Austrian.

Franzoni, whose victory comes as skiers fine-tune preparations for the February 6-22 Olympics in Milan-Cortina, was a three-time world junior champion (super-G 2021, downhill and combined 2022) and notched up his first World Cup podium on home snow in Val Gardena last month with a third place in the super-G.

Swiss master Marco Odermatt won that day in Val Gardena, but had to be happy with fourth in Wengen, a result that consolidates his healthy lead atop the overall standings.

"I've been working hard for years, but suddenly I managed to make a leap in quality," Franzoni told Swiss television RTS.

"In my opinion, it's largely in the mind because when you gain confidence, you ski more relaxed, more assured, and things just fall into place."

T.Samara--SF-PST