KITZBÜHEL, Austria (AP) — Vincent Kriechmayr received the primary of two downhills on the traditional Streif course, whereas fellow pre-race favorites Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Marco Odermatt solely narrowly averted high-speed crashes Friday.
Kriechmayr mastered the demanding course in cloudy circumstances because the world champion from Austria sped to his third win of the season and fifteenth total.
“I’ve been actually combating. In case you take a look at the outcomes from earlier years, I used to be not the favourite,” Kriechmayr instructed Austrian broadcaster ORF. “However I needed to do issues higher this time. I took plenty of dangers. I used to be not with out errors however the dangers paid off.”
As skies over the center of the course cleared in the course of the race, a number of late starters benefited from improved visibility.
Sporting bib No. 43, Florian Schieder posted the quickest occasions within the center part and completed 0.23 seconds behind Kriechmayr in second for the Italian’s first profession podium.
Swiss skier Niels Hintermann completed 0.31 behind in third, and Jared Goldberg got here 0.35 again in fourth for the American’s career-best World Cup outcome.
Kilde, who leads the World Cup downhill standings after successful 4 of the earlier six races this season, completed 0.97 off the tempo in sixteenth.
The Norwegian misplaced time on Kriechmayr early on however gained on the Austrian at each following cut up. He then appeared to danger an excessive amount of within the bend approaching the end stretch. He leaned backward and got here off the course, however regained management simply earlier than hitting a industrial banner.
“That was shut, actually shut, nearly too shut,” Kilde stated. “It actually occurred so fast. After I landed, I collapsed just a little bit, and the whole lot occurs so quick. It’s Kitzbühel, it’s how it’s.”
Odermatt, the general World Cup chief, misplaced grip about 25 seconds into his run. He regained steadiness along with his proper ski excessive up within the air however nearly crashed into the security netting.
The Swiss skier averted dangers for the rest of his run and completed greater than three seconds behind and out of doors the World Cup factors.
Goldberg’s American teammate Travis Ganong had bib No. 1 and his main time stood for eight racers. Ganong completed 0.46 behind Kriechmayr in seventh and later instructed media he deliberate to retire after the season.
Kriechmayr remained the one skier not from Norway or Switzerland to win a males’s World Cup race this season. The Austrian additionally received two downhills in Italy in December.
Kriechmayr grew to become solely the third Austrian within the final 15 years to win the well-known race, an annual spotlight in ski-mad Austria. One other downhill is scheduled for Saturday.
The race was interrupted for 20 minutes after Henrik Roea crashed whereas crossing the end going at 140 kph (87 mph). The Norwegian suffered an obvious leg harm and was taken to hospital with a helicopter.
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