{"id":255337,"date":"2026-01-24T12:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T12:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/255337\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T12:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T12:42:07","slug":"italys-rising-star-giovanni-franzoni-edges-marco-odermatt-to-win-kitzbuhel-downhill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/255337\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy&#8217;s rising star Giovanni Franzoni edges Marco Odermatt to win Kitzb\u00fchel downhill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Italy&#8217;s Giovanni Franzoni edged <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olympics.com\/en\/athletes\/odermatt\" node=\"[object Object]\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Marco Odermatt<\/a> to a thrilling men&#8217;s downhill victory at the\u00a0FIS\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olympics.com\/en\/sports\/alpine-skiing\" node=\"[object Object]\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alpine Skiing<\/a> World Cup in Kitzb\u00fchel, Austria, on Saturday, 24 January.<\/p>\n<p>An enormous crowd roared on the skiers from start to finish in mild conditions on the famous course, with the finish area awash with Swiss flags. There was also a touch of celebrity to the\u00a0prestigious event, with\u00a0movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger in the stands and\u00a0former Liverpool Football Club manager Jurgen Klopp in the start box.<\/p>\n<p>Franzoni, 24, was aggressive from the start,\u00a0 taking as many risks as he could in the icy first turns to shave milliseconds off this time, eventually crossing the line in 1:52:31.<\/p>\n<p>He watched on nervously as Beijing 2022 Olympic gold medallist\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olympics.com\/en\/athletes\/odermatt\" node=\"[object Object]\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Marco Odermatt<\/a>, fresh from his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olympics.com\/en\/milano-cortina-2026\/news\/marco-odermatt-edges-franjo-von-allmen-to-retain-super-g-crown-kitzbuhel-world-cup\" target=\"_blank\" node=\"[object Object]\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">success in yesterday&#8217;s Super G,<\/a> \u00a0blasted out of the blocks to try and take his first downhill win on this course.<\/p>\n<p>Underlining his fine form ahead of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olympics.com\/en\/milano-cortina-2026\" node=\"[object Object]\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026<\/a>, the Swiss star was ahead of Franzoni at the mid-point of the course but lost some time on the transitions and, despite a huge push at the end, finished 0.07s behind to seal a third runner-up finish in\u00a0Kitzb\u00fchel.<\/p>\n<p>Tears started flowing for Franzoni in the leader&#8217;s chair, who dedicated his first win earlier in the season to one of his best friends <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olympics.com\/en\/milano-cortina-2026\/news\/italian-alpine-skier-matteo-franzoso-dies-after-training-crash-chile\" target=\"_blank\" node=\"[object Object]\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Matteo Franzoso, who tragically died in a training crash in September 2025.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Third went to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olympics.com\/en\/athletes\/muzaton\" target=\"_blank\" node=\"[object Object]\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Maxence Muzaton<\/a> from France.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is crazy.\u00a0 I am shaking right now. This is only the second time I race here. I felt the energy of the crowd and the slope. I skied really well. Just crazy,&#8221; Franzoni told German broadcaster\u00a0ZDF.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When asked about what this means for home Games. Right now I just want to enjoy this race right now but I will arrive at the\u00a0Olympics with a lot of confidence. I need to try and stay calm there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italy&#8217;s Giovanni Franzoni edged Marco Odermatt to a thrilling men&#8217;s downhill victory at the\u00a0FIS\u00a0Alpine Skiing World Cup in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-255337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}