Josef Ferstl earned a shock victory in yesterday’s World Cup super-G at Val Gardena as the unheralded German took advantage of a mistake by last year’s winner Kjetil Jansrud.
The 29-year-old Ferstl had never finished higher than fifth in his career, but he made the most of his early start in favourable conditions in an event twice delayed by fog at the Italian resort.
Ferstl clocked 1min 35.28sec to edge out Austria’s Max Franz, also second at Lake Louise last month, by 0.02sec, with reigning Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer third at 0.10sec.
Norway’s hopes of clinching a super-G victory at Val Gardena for the sixth year in a row fell apart when Jansrud — a winner here in 2014 and 2016 — was forced to slow down to avoid missing a gate, having led at the second intermediate time check.
Racing continues at Val Gardena today with the men’s downhill before the circuit heads to Alta Badia for tomorrow’s giant slalom.