USA and Norway dominate the first training session

Leaving all the competition behind, Goldberg stopped the clock at 1:25.48 minutes in the first training session, which was started from the super-G start due to fog banks in the uppermost section of the course. The 29-year-old, who has never finished better than ninth in the World Cup, was followed by his teammate Bryce Bennett and Val Gardena/Gröden specialist Kjetil Jansrud of Norway, who tied for second place. Fourth and fifth place went to Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (Norway) and Max Franz (Austria), two athletes who have already won on the Saslong.

Italy's speed specialists were found at the back of the field in the first training session. The best Azzurro was Dominik Paris from the Ulten valley, who finished 21st. Christof Innerhofer from Gais was 25th, while all the other Italians, including the young Florian Schieder from nearby Castelrotto/Kastelruth (57th), had to settle for a place outside the top 30.

The second training run is scheduled for Thursday on the Saslong. The start is at 11:45 am and Eurosport will broadcast the training live.

Voices of the racers after the first training

Jared Goldberg (USA/1st place): "I had a ton of fun and it was great. I can always ski better but I think I did mostly pretty well. So I’m pretty happy with how it went. I felt I carried the skis pretty well in the flat sections. I don’t have any expectations for the weekend. Just trying to get back, get my confidence back. The snow in the first few races in Val d’Isère felt pretty weird for me and not the normal snow that we’re used to. Taking one day at a time. Today I felt a thousand times better than I did last weekend so I’m getting everything feeling good again and trying to push hard. The only difference here is trying to get from the lodge to the gondola and going by people thinking ok, this is race day. Every race has a mental side to it with race days being different from training days. It just feels like it’s a training week and race day won’t be much different. Hopefully it’s going to make it a little more relaxed. It’s going to be tough for me to be away from home for so long and not be able to jump back over the pond when I need to. It’s just a bad situation for everyone and that almost makes it easier to deal with it as I’m not the only one. That part is more of a first world problem, so that’s ok!"

Kjetil Jansrud (NOR/2nd place): "We had a very nice day but were unlucky with the fog and couldn't do a full-length training. Hopefully tomorrow we will go all the way. The terrain is fantastic this year, there is a little more snow (it will look great on the TV) and course conditions are good. For tomorrow, it will get a little colder and thus faster and more action-packed on the course. So far so good! The races in Val Gardena/Gröden always have the most cheering crowds from all the nations so it will be different this year without them here. But it’s a situation we just have to live with this year. At least we have the wooden crowd here which is nice. Val Gardena/Gröden is still going to be a classic with or without fans and hopefully we can put up a show again next year."

Bryce Bennett (USA/2nd place): "I’ve been nervous all week for this race. It’s been a long drive from Val d’Isère and there was a lot of time to think about for this weekend and I’m pretty fired up to ski this downhill. We started lower today due to fog. It was fine but I want to do the training from the top. The weather is going to be on the warmer side all week and the fog should clear up soon. There is definitely more snow than usual here this year, the track is in good shape and the jumps are a little smaller than I’d like, but that’s ok. It’s classic Val Gardena/Gröden. Not having fans is going to be quite a bummer because it’s always a very cool environment to come down here when the crowd is fired up and screaming once you’ve got a good run. We’ll see how it is. It’s a weird year for everyone and we’ll just try our best and I’m super excited to be racing."

Programme of the 53rd Saslong Classic

Wednesday 16 December 2020
11:45 am Downhill training (Saslong course)
5:00 pm Team captains’ meeting

Thursday 17 December 2020
11:45 am Downhill training (Saslong course)
5:00 pm Team captains’ meeting

Friday 18 December 2020
11:45 am Super-G Men (Saslong course)
5:00 pm Team captains’ meeting

Saturday 19 December 2020
11:45 am Downhill Men (Saslong course)
1:30 pm Downhill prize ceremony (Saslong Stadium)
2:00 pm Award ceremony
DOLOMITES Val Gardena Südtirol Ski Trophy