Italian skiers lead men's downhill training at the Olympics as an Austrian crashes

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Skiers from host Italy still trying to secure starting spots led the second downhill training session at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday and Austria’s Daniel Hemetsberger crashed.

Mattia Casse posted the fastest time but missed a gate midway down. Teammates Florian Schieder and Giovanni Franzoni were second and third, respectively.

Franzoni, the breakout star of the Italian team who recently won the downhill in Kitzbuhel, Austria, already has a starting spot, along with Dominik Paris, who holds the Bormio record with seven World Cup victories. Casse, Schieder and Christof Innerhofer — who was seventh — are vying for the last two spots.

Favorites like Marco Odermatt and Ryan Cochran-Siegle, the American who led the opening session Wednesday, tested only portions of the Stelvio course and otherwise stood up out of their tuck positions.

Hemetsberger lost control midway down, got spun around and crashed through a gate — causing his helmet to pop off. He then hit the safety nets at high speed. He quickly got back up but was holding his face and nose area.

A third and final training session is scheduled for Friday before the downhill race on Saturday awards the first Alpine skiing medal of the Games.

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics