American skier Bryce Bennett surprised the favourites by winning the Val Gardena downhill with a late start number as the men's World Cup speed season finally opened on Thursday a month later than scheduled.
The previous two stops on the circuit were wiped out due to bad weather. Bennett, who also won the Italian race two years ago, took advantage of improving light on the Saslong course with bib No.
34 and edged two-time defending downhill standings leader Aleksander Aamodt Kilde by 0.03 seconds. Two-time defending overall World Cup winner Marco Odermatt was pushed down to third, 0.05 back.
Jack Crawford, the Canadian world champion in the super-G, was fifth. Bennett used his tall frame to absorb the terrain in the technical Ciaslat section that characterizes the course, and crouched into an aerodynamic tuck to make up time on Kilde and Odermatt in the steep final gates.