Alpine skiing-Odermatt seals milestone 50th victory in Val Gardena downhill

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VAL GARDENA, Italy, Dec 18 - Marco Odermatt tightened his grip on the Alpine skiing World Cup when he won the first of two downhills in Val Gardena on Thursday, joining Italian ‍great ​Alberto Tomba on 50 victories on the elite circuit.

The ‍28-year-old Odermatt, who won the opening downhill in Beaver Creek earlier this month, powered down a shortened Saslong ​course in ​one minute and 24.48 seconds, 0.15 ahead of early pacesetter and fellow Swiss Franjo von Allmen.

Local favourite Dominik Paris took third place, 0.19 off the pace.

Its a great achievement but ‍on Saturday we have the race from the top, so well just have a quick toast, ​said Odermatt.

The start of the race, ⁠which was standing in for a cancelled downhill in Beaver Creek earlier this season, was delayed by over an hour due to poor visibility in the upper part of the course. It was worth the wait for ​Odermatt, who has now won five of the eight races he took part in this season.

The four-time overall World ‌Cup reigning champion recovered from a minor ​blip in the middle of the course to clinch his sixth downhill victory, a year after prevailing in Val Gardena.

With 50 wins, he sits in fourth place in the list of mens all-time World Cup race winners, led by the late Ingemar Stenmark (86).

Odermatt now leads the overall World Cup standings with 605 points, with Norways Henrik Kristoffersen in second place, 303 points behind.

Thursdays downhill was ‍the first of three speed races on the Saslong, followed by Fridays super-G and Saturdays full-length ​classic downhill.

With five race days in a row, speed