Canada’s Manuel Osborne-Paradis caused a minor surprise when he triumphed in the men’s World Cup Saslong Classic downhill in Val Gardena. The 25-year-old, who won the Super-G at Lake Louise last month, set a time of two minutes and 1.27 seconds to outshine some bigger names on a challenging course with difficult snow conditions.

One of Italy’s leading resorts, Val Gardena, opens on Thursday, December 3rd after the region received up to a metre (40 inches) of fresh snow on the slopes in recent days.

It is part of the giant Dolomiti Superski area, one of the world’s largest single-lift-ticket ski areas covering some 50 resorts in 12 valleys that together offer 1,200km of piste served by nearly 500 ski lifts.