Zabystran stuns Odermatt in super-G to become 1st Czech man to win a World Cup race

It took a historic achievement and some late sunshine to deny Marco Odermatt another World Cup victory.

No Czech man had ever won a World Cup race in the 60 seasons of the alpine skiing circuit until unheralded Jan Zabystran started Friday's super-G at Val Gardena, Italy,wearing the low-ranked bib No. 29. Odermatt, the Swiss superstar, was sitting in the leader's box by the finish area looking likely to follow up Thursday's downhill victory with yet another win.

But Zabrystan — who only had one top-10 result in his previous 56 World Cup races — stunned the field by taking advantage of the better light to finish 0.22 seconds ahead of Odermatt.

"It's a beautiful day," Zabrystan said. "I saw the green light, it's something crazy."

Zabystran of Czech Republic upsets field at Val Gardena World Cup super-G

He is not the first surprise winner at Val Gardena, which is suited to such quirks. The sunshine can arrive late on the course nestled in the spiky Dolomites mountains to light the way for late starters. That can sometimes upend the standings — just as it did Friday.

Zabrystan was fastest on the sun-bathed bottom part of the course, but he also posted the quickest split in the top section to show his win was not all luck.

Odermatt had raced about 50 minutes earlier, when he had been impressively aggressive while skiing in darker light just before midday.

Third-placed Giovanni Franzoni also got a career-best result, 0.37 back. The former world junior champion in super-G had the No. 16 start bib and was among the first racers to get blazing sunshine on the lower section, where only Zabrystan was faster.

Other low-ranked racers to shine included No. 43 starter Matthieu Bailet in fifth and Italian veteran Christof Innerhofer