At 41, Clarey continues to defy time.

After becoming the oldest Olympic medalist in the history of alpine skiing by taking silver at the Beijing Olympics in February, the Frenchman even looks better season after season.

He has climbed on a World Cup podium seven times after his 36th birthday, out of a total of... ten races finished in the top 3.

Clarey had just been on a World Cup podium for the first two times in Val Gardena, in 2009 and 2013.

This good result fully justifies his decision taken last April to continue his one-year career, in order to compete in the World Championships in Courchevel-Méribel, which will take place next February.

Starting in eighth position, he led the dance for a long time on Saturday, and even Kilde, late in relation to his times at the top of the Italian track, seemed slower.

But it was in the second part that the Norwegian built his success by taking a second from Clarey.

Excellent in the first part of the course, the native of Annecy took risks, sometimes seemed on the wire, but knew that it was worth it.

Odermatt not on the podium

Clarey is finally overtaken only by Kilde, who already scores his fourth victory since the start of the season, after his double on the American track of Beaver Creek (downhill and super-G) and his victorious downhill in Lake Louise (Canada) .

This new victory allows him to take points from his great rival, the Swiss Marco Odermatt, who did not reach the podium for the first time this season, finishing seventh tied with the American Travis Ganong.

Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde during the descent of Val Gardena (Italy), an alpine skiing world cup event, December 17, 2022 © Tiziana FABI / AFP

In the general classification of the World Cup, Odermatt is still well ahead (636 points) ahead of Kilde (525) and the Austrian Matthias Mayer (268).

On Saturday, two other Frenchmen shone: Adrien Théaux, fourth at 67 hundredths from Kilde, despite his start in 32nd position, and Cyprien Sarrazin, 6th when he started... 61st.

Their compatriot Nils Allegre also took 11th place thanks to a whirlwind finish.

The Italian track reserved another late surprise, with the third place of the Italian Mattia Casse, who climbed for the first time on a podium, after starting in 27th position.

The day before, the super-G had been canceled due to bad weather conditions: thick fog had fallen over most of the course located in the Dolomites massif, where the sun was king on Saturday.

© 2022 AFP