Bennett adds to US success in Val Gardena with downhill win

SELVA DI VAL GARDENA, Italy (AP) — Bryce Bennett added to a long list of American success in Val Gardena by winning the first classic downhill of the World Cup season on Saturday.

Bennett joined teammate Steven Nyman (three downhill victories) and Bode Miller (one super-G victory) as American winners at the resort in the Dolomites.

For his first career victory, the 6-foot-7 Bennett finished 0.14 seconds ahead of Otmar Striedinger of Austria and 0.32 ahead of Niels Hintermann of Switzerland amid perfect conditions.

Bennett had never finished better than fourth (twice in Val Gardena and once in Bormio) and now can go to the upcoming Beijing Olympics with newfound confidence.

It’s been a special time for Bennett, who was recently engaged and plans to get married next summer.

It was also a banner day for the U.S. team, as Breezy Johnson finished second behind Olympic champion Sofia Goggia in a women’s downhill in Val d’Isere, France.

While he was only the 10th starter — with nearly all of the pre-race favorites still to ski — Bennett produced such a solid run that he seemed to know immediately it was special. He celebrated wildly in the finish area, pumping his fists and poles repeatedly and shouting.

“Bryce, you are a ski star,” the race announcer shouted to the mask-wearing crowd.

Bennett and Nyman share the same ski technician, Leo Mussi — who is from the Dolomites. Mussi also worked for Italian racer Kristian Ghedina, who shares the record of four downhill wins in Val Gardena with Austrian great Franz Klammer.

Bennett then had barely sat down when the next starter, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde — the Norwegian who had posted three straight wins in Val Gardena — was faster than the American through each of the first four checkpoints.

Kilde was nearly an entire second ahead of Bennett entering the terrain-filled Ciaslat section but he was carrying so much speed that he began to lose control and went way off line. Kilde narrowly avoided crashing but failed to recover in time to clear the next gate.

Local favorite Dominik Paris of Italy finished fourth and Swiss standout Beat Feuz was fifth. Paris and Feuz were also faster than Bennett through most of the course but couldn’t match the Tahoe City, California, skier through the Ciaslat.

Bennett was a BMX racer as a kid and his biking background and long legs help him to absorb the terrain in the Ciaslat, which is filled with little rolls and bumps.

The circuit now moves over the Gardena pass to Alta Badia for giant slaloms Sunday and Monday.

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More AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/skiing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf

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More AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/skiing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf