The Associated Press Czech skiers have a knack for pulling off the unexpected in super-G races. First there was Ester Ledecká’s unforgettable win at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, wearing low-ranked bib No. 26. And on Friday, Jan Zabystran was even more of a long shot as he became the fir st Czech man to earn a World Cup win in the 60 years of the Alpine skiing circuit. It took that level of historic achievement and some late sunshine at Val Gardena in Italy to deny Marco Odermatt yet another World Cup victory. The unheralded Zabystran started Friday’s super-G wearing bib No. 29 with Swiss superstar Odermatt sitting in the leader’s box by the finish area looking likely to follow up Thursday’s downhill victory. But Zabystran — who only had one top-10 result in his previous 56 World Cup races — stunned the field by taking advantage of the better light to finish 0.22 seconds ahead of Odermatt. “It’s a beautiful day,” Zabystran said. “I saw the green light, it’s something crazy.” Quirky Italian course He is not the first surprise winner at Val Gardena, which is suited to such quirks. The sunshine can arrive late on the course nestled in the spiky Dolomites mountains to light the way for late starters. That can sometimes upend the standings — just as it did Friday. Zabystran was fastest on the sun-bathed bottom part of the course, but he also posted the quickest split in the top section to show his win was not all luck. Odermatt had raced about 50 minutes earlier, when he had been impressively aggressive while skiing in darker light just before midday. “I did everything I could,” Odermatt said. “The light was so flat you couldn’t see much. We know Val Gardena is different, you have to wait till the last guy.” ...read more read less