Industry News
Sometimes you have to wait for a good thing, as Tolstoy said in War and Peace: “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” Up until this weekend, Bryce Bennett—nicknamed ‘the Big Man’ due to his height (6’7” or 2.01 m)—had one podium to his name. He had won the 2021 Downhill at Val Gardena/Gröden, Italy, but then it was a long drought for the 31-year-old American.
Until this weekend that is, when Bennett stormed with bib no. 34 (outside of the favored top skiers who benefit from a bib lottery for the best starting numbers) to the top of the podium. Thursday, December 14, 2023, saw the Men’s Downhill where he claimed first place on the podium—almost exactly two years since his last victory on the Saslong race course. Friday, December 15, 2023, saw the Super-G where Bennett finished in 14th. Saturday featured another Downhill race and Bennett was able to add to his track record, with his first-ever third place.
- Related: Bryce Bennett from Team USA Wins the Men’s Downhill FIS World Cup at Val Gardena/Gröden, Itay
First place on Saturday went to Italy’s Dominik Paris, who has claimed his 18th career victory in Downhill, tying with Austrian skier Stephan Eberharter for third place in terms of all-time Downhill victories. Switzerland’s Peter Müller has 19 Downhill victories to his name and Austria’s Franz Klammer holds the record with 25 Downhill wins.
Crystal Globe winner Aleksander Aamodt Kilde from Norway finished in second place, after having finished in second place on Thursday as well. Kilde with bib no. 6 had skied into first place with a time of 2:00:28 and set in the winner’s seat in the finish area, watching competitor after competitor fail to come close, until Paris smashed as the only skier through the two-minute-mark, claiming the victory with an incredible time of 1:59:84, 0.44 seconds ahead of Kilde—a much wider margin than Thursday, where Bennett had won with a mere 0.03-second lead. Bennett skied into third just 0.16 seconds behind Kilde with bib no. 18. The time held through the remainder of the race, earning him his third-ever career World Cup podium.
“This has been the most fun ski race weekend I’ve ever had. To be honest, today felt better than on Thursday – it’s a lot to deal with, and I’ve never been in this position, where you ski well in a race and then you have another opportunity the same week, so to try and get past that mentally, and have a good run was a huge win for me.”
— Bryce Bennett
Bennett, having demonstrated incredible consistency across the three days of speed racing in Val Gardena tallied 178 points to claim the Val Gardena Südtirol Ski Trophy. The American skier now co-leads the Downhill World Cup standings with 160 points, which is an equal tie with Kilde and is placed fourth in the Overall standings, which include the technical disciplines of Giant Slalom and Slalom as well.
The rest of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team also showed strong results. Jared Goldberg skied extremely fast on the top half of the course with top splits and top speeds. But with a few mistakes in the middle Goldberg settled for an 11th-place result, just ahead of his teammate Ryan Cochran-Siegle in 13th. Kyle Negomir skied a strong line to score a 30th-place position, snagging a downhill World Cup point. But it was not without its theatrics, he caught an edge just before the finish line and crashed through the finish. He was okay and walked away with a World Cup result. Sam Morse also raced, he took 41st place. Sam DuPratt did not finish.
The speed men will now take this solid opening speed event and prepare for the Bormio World Cup on December 28-29, 2023. “I’m super fired up to go to Bormio–I love that track,” Bennett said, about the upcoming Downhill race on the Stelvio slope.
