Top five finish for Cavegn in Val Gardena

Switzerland's Franco Cavegn speeds towards the finishing line in Val Gardena Keystone

The Swiss skier, Franco Cavegn, raced to a fifth-placed finish in Saturday's World Cup downhill event in Val Gardena, Italy.

Cavegn, who 24 hours earlier finished seventh in the same event, ended the race just four tenths of a second behind the overall winner, Austria’s Stephan Eberharter, who claimed victory with a time of 2.01:24.

Swiss team coach, Fritz Züger, expressed his delight at Cavegn’s performance.

“He really deserved not just to win a podium place, but to be the overall winner,” Züger said.

Michael Walchhofer came in second, while Norway’s Kjetil André Aamodt took the remaining podium place.

Cavegn’s Swiss compatriot, Didier Cuche, narrowly missed out on a top-ten finish when he came in 12th.

Ambrosi Hoffmann was just behind in 13th, while Rolf von Weissenfluh celebrated a 15th-placed finish.

Beltrametti not forgotten

Saturday’s race came one week after Swiss skier Silvano Beltrametti was paralysed for life after a high-speed crash during the season’s opening downhill in Val d’Isère.

In a mark of respect to his former team-mate, Cavegn chose to wear the number 14 during the race, the same number Beltrametti wore in Val d’Isère on the day of his accident.

Cavegn said he had spoken to Beltrametti the night before the race to let him know he would be wearing his old number.

“Silvano was really pleased when I told him that I would be wearing the number in his honour,” Cavegn said.

super-G in Val d’Isère

Swiss female skiers, competing in the French Alpine resort of Val d’Isère, failed to make it into the top ten in Saturday’s World Cup super-G.

The best Swiss performance of the day came from Sylviane Berthod, who finished in 13th place, just under two seconds behind the race winner, Germany’s Hilde Gerg, who finished the event with a time of 1:12:23.

Two Austrians took the remaining podium places: Renate Götschl finished second, just 0.67 seconds behind her German opponent, while Tanja Schneider was third.

Berthod was the only Swiss to make it in to the top 20. Her compatriot, Catherine Borghi, finished 36th, while the Swiss skiing star, Corinne Rey-Bellet, was eliminated from the race.

Saturday’s race was the first women’s World Cup meeting in France since the death more than six weeks ago of the former super-G World Cup champion, Regine Cavagnoud.

Cavagnoud, who died after crashing into a German coach during a training session in Austria, won last year’s super-G in Val d’Isère.

swissinfo with agencies