Alpine skiers tackled the first hurdle at the 2023 FISU World University Games in Lake Placid on Friday when the Super-G competition was postponed due to bad weather.

Things got back on track at Whiteface Mountain on Saturday, with Jan Zabystran of the Czech Republic and Fabiana Dorigo of Germany taking full advantage of the better conditions to claim Super-G Gold.

Zabystran won the men’s morning race with a lead of 0.41 seconds over Italian Luca Tarzano, who overtook Eric Wyler of Switzerland by one-hundredth of a second to take silver.

“I’m really happy,” said 24-year-old Zabystran after his country won its first Olympic gold medal.

“I took part in several European and World Cup events where I was about 50 years old^p place. I’m really happy to be standing here and winning something after so many years.

“Really good after yesterday’s rain,” commented Tarzano of the slope conditions. “It’s amazing, everything is smooth.”

Wyler, a Swiss Distance University student, couldn’t hide his excitement and was already looking forward to what was to come.

“I’m so happy, I’m so excited. I’m looking forward to the giant slalom and tomorrow’s alpine combined. Slalom is just fun.

The weather conditions took a turn for the worse in the afternoon as the fog cleared over the women’s starting grid.

This did not put Dorigo off. She took the lead without. 4 bib and her winning time to finish gave the Germans their first win at Lake Placid.

“I didn’t really practice Super-G this year. I think I only had one training day,” she said, explaining that she had suffered an injury at the end of last season. “I didn’t ride so well at the top, but it was very good at the bottom”

“We still have a few more races to go and hopefully more medals to come.”

Norway’s Carmen Sofie Nielssen lost some time down the slope and had to settle for silver, 0.47 behind Dorigo.

Celia Abad of Spain unexpectedly finished third, using the weather conditions to her advantage to win her country’s first medal at the Winter FISU Games since 2015.

The men’s and women’s combined alpine skiing competitions will continue on Sunday.

Written by Miha Trošt, FISU Young Reporter

We would like to thank the official partner of FISU, Qiaodan Ltd., which has been providing outstanding uniforms to the FISU family and international technical officials since 2015. Qiaodan is a valuable partner for FISU as it continues to provide support during postponing events due to the global pandemic and recently extended its partnership with FISU to and including 2025.