Marsaglia, whose previous best result was a fourth place showing in Super Combined at last winter’s Olympic test event in Sochi, blasted down a treacherous and icy course, that claimed 16 skiers on the day, to record the win in a time of 1:14.68.
“We are getting good pasta here in Beaver Creek,” joked Marsaglia, referring to the fact that teammate Christof Innerhofer captured Friday’s Birds of Prey Downhill. “I have been skiing well and I knew I could do well on this hill…maybe not this good. I took a lot of risks today on the top and the bottom steeps and hung on in the middle.”
Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal once again claimed the runner-up spot, 27-hundredths of a second off the Italian’s pace, while Austria’s Hannes Reichelt place third, 7-tenths of a second out.
“I have to guess that this was an exciting race to watch on television,” offered Svindal. I thought the course was really tough, but I had fun skiing it. When I saw that Matteo was in the lead by 7 tenths, I said that’s going to be very hard to beat.”
Just off the podium in fourth position was American Ted Ligety, 74-hundredths off the Italian’s pace. Other American finishes on the day included Tommy Biesemeyer tied for 18th, Brennan Rubie in 27th and Jaren Goldberg in the 30th spot. U.S. Ski Team hopeful Andrew Weibrecht was one of the victims of the course.
Marsaglia’s wins marks only the fourth Italian victory at the Audi FIS Birds of Prey World Cup Race Week since the event’s inception in 1997. That first year, Kristian Ghedina captured the inaugural Downhill competition.
The 2012 Audi FIS Birds of Prey World Cup Race Week concludes Sunday with Giant Slalom, with the first run scheduled for 9:45 a.m.
The 2012 Audi FIS Birds of Prey is a project of the Vail Valley Foundation. For additional information on Birds of Prey, visit www.bcworldcup.com.
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