Tag: Marco Odermatt

It couldn’t get better than this for Pinturault

Alexis Pinturault won the last Giant Slalom of the season in Lenzerheide in commanding fashion. In addition to that, he also won for the first time in his career both the Small and the Giant Crystal Globe — all that on his 30th birthday. It couldn’t get better than this for Pinturault.

Photo credits: Agence Zoom & Eurosport

By Daphne Seberich

The Giant Slalom season couldn’t have ended better for Alexis Pinturault. After many seasons of coming close to winning the Small and Giant Crystal Globes, the Frenchman was due to finally bring those titles home. Already after the first run, it was almost certain that the newly turned 30-year-old would triumph in his discipline in commanding fashion.

But the titles didn’t come easily. Only 25 points separated Alexis Pinturault and Marco Odermatt for the big Crystal Globe. On the day of his 30th birthday, the Frenchman had the big task to prove himself worthy of winning the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe, as well as the overall championship.     

“I was really tired after the World Championships and struggled the last few weeks,” said Pinturault after the race. “After Kranjska Gora, I was really frustrated. And Marco was getting really good results, so I felt the pressure. Today, it was clear what I had to do – I actually felt more pressure in Kranjksa than I did today”, the Frenchman told FIS. 

Closing off the podium were Filip Zubcic in second and Mathieu Faivre in third. Another Giant Slalom 1-3 for France after Bansko in February.

Photo credits: The Indian Paper

Lenzerheide was troubled by the weather conditions all weekend long. FIS even had to take the difficult decision to cancel the speed disciplines’ finals. A very controversial and potentially disruptive conclusion, as both Overall championships for men and women, were still undecided. 

It was especially tough for Lara Gut-Behrami, who had her two main disciplines races stripped away from her to earn the Giant Crystal Globe against Slovakian Petra Vlhova. The Swiss had the chance to take the title home for the second time after 2016, but the FIS decided to not reschedule the canceled races, as stated in the finals regulations. 

Photo credits: Tio.ch

With the blistering time of 1:01.19, Frenchman Pinturault hypothecated his win and potential titles already after his first run. No one could’ve come close to his achievement on the tricky Lenzerheide course. Zan Kranjec was suffering the difficulty of the Swiss slope, crossing the finish line 1.48 seconds behind Pinturault.

Marco Odermatt was in big trouble after his run. 1.66 seconds of delay only secured him the last spot in the rankings. He had a lot of catch-up to do to have a chance at the globe, but the Swiss is famous for his comebacks to the top positions. He never scored worse than fifth place during the whole Giant Slalom season. 

Filip Zubcic, who mathematically still had the chance at the Small Crystal Globe, was the best after Pinturault at the finish line, dethroning Kranjec from second place. The Bansko winner and Cortina 2021 World Champion Mathieu Faivre was not on his A-game. Over 1.53 seconds of delay towards his invincible teammate didn’t score him the best possible result ahead of the second run. 

Second in the last Giant Slalom of Kranjska Gora Loïc Meillard was the first athlete to exit the race prematurely. A hole on the course deviated his path and made him lose control over his skis. The not optimal conditions of the course debilitated the Swiss’ performance on home soil. 

  • Alexis Pinturault
  • Zan Kranjec
  • Marco Odermatt
  • Filip Zubcic
  • Mathieu Faivre
  • Loïc Meilliard

Photo credits: Taiwan News, News Beezer, Agence Zoom, Rai Sport, LaPresse.ca and Taiwan News

Thibaut Favrot had the same mishap as Pinturault in the first Bansko race. He lost one of his poles mid-race and still managed to score third place with a 1:31 second of delay. The Cortina 2021 Giant Slalom silver medalist Luca De Aliprandini had his best performance in the World Cup season, managed to dethrone Favrot from provisional third place. 

The former holder of the small Giant Slalom Crystal Globe Henrik Kristoffersen was struggling to finish his run. He was the first athlete to do worse than Marco Odermatt. All descended athletes still had a chance at a podium, as the times were not much apart from each other. 

Stefan Brennsteiner was the surprise of the first run being the only one to get under the second of delay at the finish line. On the other hand, Marco Schwarz, troubled by back pain, couldn’t score a good result, placing provisionally last. 

Photo credits: Krone.at

The 2021 Junior World Champion Lukas Feurstein kicked off the second run after the inversion of twenty, setting the bar for the other competitors with a time of 1:14.96. Manuel Feller managed to beat the young Austrian’s time but wasn’t very satisfied by his result as it was just a slight improvement from the best time scored by Feurstein. Although his run was characterized by a major mistake at the end, Adam Zampa took over the lead of the race.

Giovanni Borsotti incremented his advantage intermediate by intermediate, crossing the finish line 1.39 seconds ahead of the provisional leader Zampa. Marco Schwarz dethroned the Italian by beating his time by only one-hundredth of a second. Soon after, German Stefan Luitz improved the Austrian’s best result by 34 hundredths. Henrik Kristoffersen then put the short leadership of Luitz to an end.

Marco Odermatt had to face the toughest challenge of his career to date: recover over 1.66 seconds against first-run leader Pinturault. He increased his advantage over Kristoffersen in the first section of the course, but the mellow part of the slope decreased his speed dramatically. The result of his run was not what he expected, finishing in third behind Kristoffersen and Luitz. Teammate Gino Caviezel then took over the lead with a seven-hundredths advantage over the Norwegian.

Photo credits: Archyde

Frenchman Mathieu Faivre blew it out of the park with his incredible performance of the second run. 79-hundredths allowed him to place provisionally in first. His teammate Favrot was just 59 hundredths behind him in second. De Aliprandini then dethroned the French to the runner-up position.

Filip Zubcic had the run of his career. He incremented his advantage over Faivre intermediate by intermediate. One hundredth at the finish line allowed him to take over the leadership of the race. 

Alexis Pinturault did what he had to do at the end of his run and became on his 30th birthday the winner of the race, the Giant Slalom Small Crystal Globe and the Overall Crystal Globe earner, the biggest achievement for a skier’s career. These achievements were a long time coming for the Frenchman, as his past seasons were mainly dominated by martian Marcel Hirscher. Last year, he had a shot at the Overall title as well, but the cancellation of the remaining races of the 2019/2020 season due to the ongoing pandemic cut his chances short. 

Photo credits: The Indian Paper

One race was still left for the 2020/2021 championships. Could Alexis Pinturault close his season off with another success?

12 days of dominance

Mathieu Faivre completely turned his season around after the 2021 Cortina FIS Alpine World Ski Championship wins, dominating the Giant Slalom discipline. In only twelve days, the Frenchman has won two out of three competitions, scoring a podium in all of them. 

Photo credits: The Indian Paper & Marco Tacca for AP Photo

By Daphne Seberich

Bansko day two. A perfect day with perfect weather saw the reigning Giant Slalom World Champion Mathieu Faivre annihilate his competition. The Bulgarian ski resort hosted an exciting race for the athletes and viewers at home, with the Top-10 battling it out for valuable FIS World Cup points. 

After finishing in second place in Saturday’s Giant Slalom, Mathieu Faivre earned his second victory in 12 days, topping Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt by 0.75 seconds. It was the Frenchman’s second career World Cup victory as he has put together the strongest three races of his career with three straight podiums, including the World Championship gold.

Thanks to his seventh World Cup podium of the season, 23-year-old Marco Odermatt made up some lost ground in the challenge for the Overall Crystal Globe, where Bansko’s third-placed athlete Alexis Pinturault commands. The Frenchman has a 210-point lead over the Swiss. 

Photo credits: FIS Alpine

Kicking things off in the first run, the Swiss Loïc Meillard set the bar for the other competitors with a time of 1:11.45. Zan Kranjec couldn’t keep up with the youngster, setting red intermediates throughout his leg. 44 hundredths of a second of delay from the provisional leader secured him second place after two athletes.

Cortina 2021 Giant Slalom World Champion Mathieu Faivre was always behind the time set by Meillard. Impressively, the Frenchman managed to recover six tenths in the lowest part of the piste, earning the provisional lead over the Swiss. Giant Slalom standings leader Alexis Pinturault disappointed, as opposed to his teammate Faivre, ending his run 79 hundredths of a second behind in third. 

Saturday’s Bansko winner Filip Zubcic, who’s only 22 points behind Giant Slalom standings leader Pinturault, had the worst possible run we could’ve imagined. At the start of the steepest part of the Bansko slope, the Croatian leaned too deep into one gate, falling with the body towards the snow. He still managed to stay inside of the course set by the Swedish ski national coach Ola Masdal, but his delay was over three seconds.

Photo credits: Narod.hr

Third-ranked in the Giant Slalom standings, Marco Odermatt had the same goal as Zubcic: beating Alexis Pinturault. The Bulgarian track, although, proved to be tough for the Crystal Globe contenders. Odermatt only managed to finish in fifth, 1.2 seconds behind the provisional leader Faivre. Frenchman’s teammate Thibaut Favrot then dethroned the Swiss after his run by being one-hundredth of a second ahead of Odermatt.

Marco Schwarz, who managed to earn the bronze medal in Giant Slalom at the 2021 Cortina D’Ampezzo FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, couldn’t perform as well as in the Italian competition. His red intermediates throughout his run ended in a 2.45 seconds delay over French leader Faivre. 

Speaking of Italian, Luca De Aliprandini, who won the silver medal in the technical discipline on home soil, was not performing as well as in the first Bansko race. 2.21 seconds of delay only secured a provisional Top-10 finish. 6th in Saturday’s Giant Slalom event Manuel Feller, just managed to squeeze between his teammate Schwarz and Filip Zubcic in 14th place. 3.07 seconds of disadvantage from the lead was a disappointing result for the “Wunderteam” skier. 

The surprise of the first Bansko competition Stefan Brennsteiner, who managed to score a podium for Austria in Giant Slalom for the first time after the Hirscher era, scored a Top-10 finish. 

Photo credits: FIS Alpine

Same Torsti, who was the bib number 48 wearer and managed to qualify for the inverted session, started the second leg as first. Alex Hofer, who scored a first Top-30 career finish, managed to earn the provisional lead from Finn Torsti by 51 hundredths. A struggling Victor Muffat-Jeandet had to be content with only second place after his run. 

Veteran Manfred Mölgg had his comeback, beating his South Tyrolean teammate Hofer by 63 hundredths of a second. Hannes Zingerle, who I interviewed in the Alta Badia race in December (click here for the full video interview), had a really strong performance. He managed to recover a two-tenths disadvantage to finish in first. A provisional 1-2-3 podium result for Italy, until Ivan Kuznetsov from Russia took over the lead of the race. 

Swiss Daniele Sette blew it out of the park, crossing the finish line with over 8 tenths of a second ahead of the Russian leader. But his biggest threat was Filip Zubcic, who was set to make a strong recovery to score a Top-10 finish. The goal was to reach ninth place to not lose out on too many points for the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe contention. Unfortunately, Zubcic made a very costly mistake in the final part of the slope that prevented his comeback. His performance was only good enough for second place. 

Photo credits: Daniele Sette

The Swiss provisional leader Sette recovered over eight positions in the second run, a remembrance of Stefan Hadalin’s performance on Saturday. He beat successful athletes like Filip Zubcic, Manuel Feller and Stefan Luitz. His leadership came to an end, as Marco Schwarz crossed the finish line 4 hundredths ahead of Sette’s best time. 

Even though Gino Caviezel suffered from a critical mistake in the top part of the course, the Swiss was setting green intermediates throughout his run. The last section of the piste was unfortunately not fast enough to dethrone the Austrian provisional leader. Similar problems occurred to Luca De Aliprandini, who was set to take over the leadership, but too many mistakes prevented him to do so. He finished his run in ex aequo with Caviezel in third. 

Photo credits: Hola News & NeveItalia

Henrik Kristoffersen managed to end his attempt one-tenth ahead of Schwarz, but Austrian teammate Stefan Brennsteiner set the perfect run, serving over one second to the Norwegian superstar. His impressive Bansko weekend proved to be the “Wunderteam” athlete’s revelation. Even Alta Badia podium scorer Justin Murisier couldn’t keep up with Brennsteiner’s performance. 

Marco Odermatt, who never finished worse than fifth this season in Giant Slalom, didn’t disappoint. 39 hundredths earned him the honor to sit on Audi’s red leader chair. The goal was to recover 4 tenths over Alexis Pinturault, who was third after the first run. He came very close to that result. Favrot and Kranjec couldn’t beat Odermatt’s performance, securing a Top-4 outcome ahead of the Giant Slalom standings leader. 

Alexis Pinturault had to be ahead of the Swiss to secure his position in the rankings. His run was mind-blowing, as he seemed to almost lose both his poles like in the first Bansko event. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, the performance was only good for second place, 0.09 seconds behind the Swiss leader. 

Video credits: FIS & Infront Sports & Media AG

With over 1.2 seconds of advantage over the provisional leader Odermatt, Mathieu Faivre had an easy task and he never gave the impression of any possibility of losing the race. 0.75 seconds at the finish line secured him the win. In only two days, Faivre scored 180 points valid for the standings. 

Video credits: FIS & Infront Sports & Media AG

The rankings are extremely close when it comes to the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe. The same two men of the Overall standings are battling it out with only 25 points between them. Trailing behind is Bansko’s Saturday event winner Filip Zubcic with a 64-point deficit from the top of the leaderboard.

The Giant Slalom athletes will have one last chance at victory in Kranjska Gora before the finals taking place in Lenzerheide from March 15th-21st. Who will have the upper hand in this three-way battle to the top? 

Photo credits: Samuel Truempy for PHOTOPRESS

Sweet, sweet redemption.

Filip Zubcic proved to be superior to everyone in Bansko as the World Cup events restarted. After missing out on a championships medal, the Croatian had his sweet redemption on the Bulgarian slope.

Photo credits: Sportschau & GEPA

By Daphne Seberich

As the 2021 Cortina FIS Alpine World Ski Championships came to an end, the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup restarted for the men involved in Giant Slalom events. This time, the competitions moved to Bansko, Bulgaria, where the tricky snow conditions ensured a fun and entertaining racing spectacle for the viewers at home.

Only one could arise victorious in Bansko, and it was Filip Zubcic. The Croatian Giant Slalom superstar, who barely missed out on a medal in the Italian World Championships, placing in fourth, came back stronger than ever to secure the second victory of the season. We can also not forget to mention the astonishing record he has set. Filip Zubcic missed out on a Giant Slalom podium only three times in eleven races. 

Photo credits: FIS

The victory came down to the wire in the second run, but Mathieu Faivre can consider itself happy with second place. The Frenchman, who was crowned Giant Slalom World Champion in Cortina, has found the perfect balance. His victory has boosted his confidence. Faivre had only scored 96 points in six races before Cortina, whereas now his record states 180 in two events. A massive improvement in only three weeks. 

Completing the podium was a surprise “Wunderteam” member, Stefan Brennsteiner, who earned his first World Cup podium in his career. After the Hirscher era, no Austrian came close to winning in Giant Slalom. Today’s revelation might be the future for the Austrian ski team.  

Photo credits: SciareMag & Österreichischer Skiverband

Kicking-off the inversed leg, Italian skier from Bolzano Riccardo Tonetti finished in the Top-30 after the first run. A total time of 2:24.19 was the bar the other competitors had to beat. Unfortunately, Tonetti’s performance was penalized by one substantial mistake that was very costly for the overall performance. Filippo Della Vite’s first appearance in the élite 30 of any World Cup event, ended in success. He had previously entered only four races.84 hundredths of a second separated him from his teammate Tonetti.

South Tyrolean skier Hannes Zingerle, who I had the pleasure to interview in the Alta Badia Giant Slalom race back in December (click here for the video interview), was happy to start in the second run. His performance was, although, not perfect. It was enough to dethrone teammate Tonetti from the podium in third. Soon after, Mattias Rönngren took over Zingerle’s position in the rankings. 

After recovering three positions, Filippo Della Vite had to surrender the provisional leadership of the race to Slovenian Stefan Hadalin, who crossed the finish line 76 hundredths ahead of the Italian. Hadalin recovered over eight positions, beating athletes like Victor Muffat-Jeandet, Stefan Luitz and Gino Caviezel.

Photo credits: Race Ski Magazine

The silver medalist of the Cortina 2021 Giant Slalom World Championships Luca De Aliprandini, who finished 15th after the first run, was losing his advantage over Hadalin intermediate by intermediate. Youngster Della Vite officially became the best-ranked Italian of the competition. De Aliprandini ended his attempt behind his rookie teammate.

Hadalin’s comeback continued as his position recovery increased to ten. Only Thibaut Favrot managed to end the Slovenian march towards the Top-10, completing his run two tenths ahead of the provisional leader. Swiss athlete Justin Murisier, who placed third in the Alta Badia Giant Slalom, crossed the finish line in the same position as in the Italian competition. Slalom Champion Marco Schwarz then replaced the Swiss on the lowest step of the podium. 

“Wunderteam” athlete Manuel Feller took over the provisional lead of the race, beating Favrot’s time by 14 hundredths of a second. Loïc Meillard, who never finished outside the Top-6, had only a small advantage over the Austrian. Unfortunately, the last part of the piste proved to be time costly for the Swiss, ending his run in third behind Favrot.

Photo credits: NeveItalia & RSI

Young rising star Marco Odermatt, who was always a risk-taker, proved that his skiing style pays off. His intermediate’s incremented drastically in a positive way recovering over 7 tenths in the second part of the course. Crossing the finish line only 11 hundredths of a second ahead of Feller secured Odermatt the leadership of the race. 

Austrian Stefan Brennsteiner was the biggest surprise of the competition. Placing fifth the first run was already an impressive accomplishment by the Austrian, but serving over 59 hundredths to Odermatt was the revelation of the day. Henrik Kristoffersen completely missed the target of getting on the podium, incredibly ending in 17th place behind Italian Della Vite, who recovered twelve positions. 

Overall standings leader Alexis Pinturault, who was going for a fourth consecutive win in Giant Slalom, had the most insane leg ever. Not even after a quarter of the run, the French superstar lost his right pole and had to continue his performance with a substantial handicap. Considering this, Pinturault ending in second place behind Brennsteiner was an outstanding performance. 

Video rights: FIS & Infront Sports & Media AG

Filip Zubcic, who I interviewed in Alta Badia as well (click here for the video interview), was on his A-game. His run was flawless and extremely fast. The already green intermediates increased section by section. Finishing his run 93 hundredths of a second ahead of Brennsteiner was a statement. He was not there to play. Provisional first-run leader Faivre had a tough task ahead of his second attempt and had to deal with a lot of pressure.

Cortina 2021 Giant Slalom World Champion Mathieu Faivre was keeping up with Zubcic’s time, but the Croatian just had another pace. The newly crowned World Champion managed to earn a podium position but couldn’t beat the incredible Zubcic. Faivre squeezed between the leader and Brennsteiner to complete the podium.

Zubcic won for the third time in his career after Santa Caterina Valfurva in December and Niigata Yuzawa Naeba in February 2020. His victory also closed the gap to Giant Slalom standings leader Pinturault, who has now only a 22-points lead over the Croatian star. The competitions are not over for the weekend, as Bansko will host a second event on Sunday. Will Zubcic aim for back-to-back victories?

Photo credits: Rai Sport

Kriechmayr is now part of the élite speed double trio

With his win, Kriechmayr became the third man, after Hermann Maier in 1999 and Bode Miller in 2005 to do the speed double in the same year at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

Photo credits: Paudal, Olympic Channel , Alchetron & Corriere Della Sera

By Daphne Seberich

Vincent Kriechmayr was unbeatable on the brand-new Vertigine race piste in Cortina d’Ampezzo winning downhill gold at the 2021 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, completing the speed double.

Having won the Super G event, the Austrian came into the race full of confidence. He picked bib number one, becoming the first man to race a downhill on the Vertigine in competition, and dominated in clear conditions with hard, grippy snow.

With last year’s World Cup Finals (which should have served as a test event for the piste) canceled, the field only had two training runs earlier this week to get used to the 2610m-long course, with its average slope of 31 percent.

Photo credits: Lagone

Kriechmayr, who won downhill bronze at the last World Championships in Åre, skied a clean line and was only nearly caught out by a tricky control gate on the Canalone traverse section of the course.

The 29-year-old crossed the line in one minute, 37.79 seconds – just one-hundredth of a second, or an advantage of just 27 cm, ahead of silver medalist Andreas Sander of Germany, who wore bib number two.

Switzerland’s Beat Feuz, winner of the double downhills in Kitzbühel last month, was third, 0.18 seconds behind Kriechmayr.

Photo credits: NewsBeezer & Corriere del Ticino

The Cortina Super G gold medal winner Vincent Kriechmayr started the competition, setting the bar for the other competitors with a time of 1:37.79. It was a tough battle between the provisional leader and Andreas Sander’s time. With bib number two, the German crossed the finish line only one-hundredth of a second behind Kriechmayr. 

Fan-favorite and Garmisch-Partenkirchen Downhill winner Dominik Paris, who topped the second training session on Saturday, seemed to have what it takes to beat Vincent Kriechmayr’s time. Unfortunately, a mistake in the crucial part of the slope determined Paris’s fate. He recovered a 1.24-second delay from the middle part of the piste to cross the finish line 65 hundredths behind the provisional leader. 

Photo credits: Alto Adige

Kitzbühel podium holder Matthias Mayer was one of the favorites to take the win. His physical shape, as seen on the Streif, is remarkable. He came to Cortina prepared in the best way possible. At the Canalone traverse, Mayer missed a gate, finishing prematurely his run. 

Beat Feuz, who came to Cortina with two wins in Kitzbühel and a second place at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, was set to earn a medal in the discipline. He also was crowned Downhill World Champion at Sankt Moritz 2017. Feuz managed to dethrone Paris from third place, falling behind Austrian Kriechmayr only 18 hundredths of a second. 

Bib number 8 holder Maxence Muzaton had a scary encounter with the slope. It seemed like he was doing freestyle skiing with downhill skis. Luckily, he didn’t suffer from any injury.

As the racers descended the slope, it was getting clear that beating Kriechmayr’s time was gonna be a tough challenge. With bib number 13, Romed Baumann was a real challenger for a podium position. The intermediates in the first half of the slope talked clear: he was close to Kriechmayr. Where Paris had his mistake, Baumann failed as well, crossing the finish line in ninth place. A finish-line scare involved him as well, crashing into the air fence in the end area. Fortunately, he left the track with only minor cuts on his face.

The Vertigine slope has not aided Christof Innerhofer to win on home soil. The 2011 Downhill World Championship bronze medalist missed out on a top-three finish, placing just behind his teammate Dominik Paris in fifth place. 

Reigning Downhill World Champion Kjetil Jansrud misinterpreted the slope, but still had his season’s best result, placing seventh. He couldn’t defend his title. Marco Odermatt set a surprisingly good time, equaling Dominik Paris in fourth place. The technical slalom discipline specialist blew it out of the park by interpreting the slope in the best way possible. His bib number, which was 18, didn’t seem to penalize him. 

Photo credits: Dagsavisen & La Vanguardia

Vincent Kriechmayr wins back-to-back gold medals in Cortina, equaling a record that only legends of the sport managed to do. Andreas Sander barely missed out on the top spot of the podium, but can still consider himself happy with silver. He scores a third medal for Germany, the second one in the Downhill discipline after Kira Weidle’s podium on Saturday. Feuz in third was no surprise. The Swiss scored his third World Championship medal, his second bronze. 

With his win, Kriechmayr became the first Austrian Men’s Downhill World Champion in 18 years since Michael Walchhofer accomplished it in 2003. He also became just the third man, after Hermann Maier in 1999 and Bode Miller in 2005 to do the speed double in the same year.

“Hermann Maier is an Austrian legend and Bode Miller is a legend too, of course,” Kriechmayr told FIS after his run. “It was a really special race today, with bib number one it wasn’t so easy and it looks like it was good enough for the victory today. An amazing race.”

Speaking to Eurosport, he added: “It’s pretty amazing, it was a difficult race. It was not perfect, I lost a lot of time on the last part of the race but I was pretty fast on the middle part. It was good enough, and that’s it. Yes, of course I had my medal, I already had a medal and I wanted to show my best today. I always was a fan of these two guys but to be on the same step as them is amazing,” he said of comparisons to Maier and Miller.

Photo credits: Chronicle Telegram

Silver medallist Sander, who continued Germany’s run of silver medals at the Championships, told Eurosport: “Just one-hundredth, I saw it and I was like ‘uh-oh, that could be… hopefully it’s not for a medal. I saw the time, it was really fast, 1:37, and then I thought maybe it was a good one. I was feeling good, I was really in shape and felt good. I felt like maybe I could do it and cause a surprise. I felt it at the start. In the end, super happy.”

The competitions will continue at the Italian venue until the 21st of February where the athletes will do everything they can to score a medal. Can someone equal Kriechmayr’s achievement by winning the technical discipline’s double gold medal?

Photo credits: Radio Cortina

The Austrian’s Kitzbühel triumph

Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr triumphed on home soil, earning his first win of the season.

Photo credits: Eurosport & Getty Images

By Daphne Seberich

The tables have turned for Vincent Kriechmayr. Sunday’s bad luck, as a gate fell right on the binding of his skis as he was riding the snow downhill at 130 km/h, was soon forgotten. The Austrian raced to his first Super G FIS Alpine Ski World Cup win of the 2020/2021 season on Monday with a blistering run in Kitzbühel.

The Åre Ski World Championships Super G bronze medalist clocked a time of 1:12.58 on home snow, which was also enough to move him on top of the discipline’s standings after a second place in Bormio back in December.

“Today I had a really good race. I’m really proud of my skiing.” 29-year-old Kriechmayr told FIS. “Last year I missed the Crystal Globe by three points, now I just want to ski my way.”

Photo credits: El Mundo Deportivo

Kriechmayr beat Swiss Marco Odermatt into second place on the Austrian slope. The 23-year-old Swiss skier, a relative newcomer to the speed discipline, finished 0.12 seconds behind the winner, earning his fourth podium of the season.

Another Austrian and double Olympic gold medalist Matthias Mayer, bagged his third podium of the Kitzbühel race weekend, completing the podium to go with second and third-place finishes in Friday and Sunday’s downhills. The Super G specialist equals legend Aksel Lund Svindal for podium finishes on the Hahnenkamm.

The icy Kitzbühel Super G took place on the Streif-Alm. Every year the best skiers on earth compete to win the coveted chamois trophy, the symbol of Kitzbühel. The layout of this Super G was very direct and straight. Mistakes were not allowed.

The first athlete to start was Austrian Christian Walder. 1:13.28 was the time to beat. Christof Innerhofer attempted to challenge the benchmark. He had an impressive result at the Sunday Downhill race placing fourth. The South Tyrolean took many risks, which resulted in red intermediates. He fought and had his comeback to cross the finish line with 11 hundredths of a second ahead of the Austrian.

Marco Odermatt’s strong performance on Sunday gave him more confidence approaching the Streif-Alm. He did not disappoint and seemed to feel comfortable on the Austrian slope. Odermatt earned the provisional lead with 0.47 seconds of advantage towards Innerhofer. 

Photo credits: laRegione & Le Matin

Sunday’s runner-up Johan Clarey fought for a back-to-back podium result, but a massive delay of 1.58 seconds from the lead placed him last. Bib number 5 athlete Vincent Kriechmayr, who was misfortunate in the second Hahnenkamm-race, blew everyone out of the water and served 12 hundredths to provisional leader Odermatt. 

Kjetil Jansrud, the winner of the 2020 Kitzbühel Super G, has had a disappointing World Cup weekend. His run ended prematurely, having missed a gate. An 18th and 26th place at the Streif competitions and the latest DNF, made him lose out on crucial points for the standings. 

Second and third-place Hahnenkamm-race winner Matthias Mayer set the bar high when it came to expectations. In 2017 he conquered the Streif-Alm, but this race was not on his usual level. Taking risks on the icy slope was necessary, but making mistakes was not accepted. He only managed to secure a spot on the lowest step of the podium after nine racers. 

Photo credits: Eurosport

Loïc Meillard came racing at the Kitzbühel slope without any training and practice runs and it showed. His time was abysmally apart from the top. 1.41 seconds of delay placed him provisionally in sixth place.

Overall standings leader and technical disciplines specialist Alexis Pinturault had to cope with the same conditions as Meillard. He attempted to race at the Kitzbühel slope without any training and practice runs as well. For the Frenchman, competing in the Super G is necessary to earn points to secure his lead in the rankings. Pinturault just finished behind the Swiss in seventh position. 

Austrian naturalized German skier Romed Baumann has had an incredible weekend on the Streif so far but made too many mistakes during the Monday Super G, only managing to squeeze between Meillard and Pinturault in seventh.

Dominik Paris, the reigning Super G World Champion and winner on the Streif-Alm in 2015 has not had the best start to his run. 84 hundredths of a second delay after the first intermediate ruined his chances of winning. What a disappointment for the South Tyrolean, who had his first seasonal podium on Friday in the first Downhill event.

Photo credits: Saslong

The only remaining athlete who could have potentially challenged Vincent Kriechmayr for the lead was back-to-back Streif winner Beat Feuz. The Blitzkönig chose risky lines in the first part of the track. His delay subsequently increased intermediate by intermediate. A mistake in the final section of the slope ended in a zero-points result for Feuz.

French skier Nils Allegre was part of the most shocking crash of the day. With incredible speed coming into the first jump, Allegre lost control of his body at the landing, crashing into both protective barriers of the track. Fortunately, the airbag system the athletes have prevented the Frenchman to suffer from a serious injury.

Video credits: Eurosport & Infront Sports & Media AG

The surprises of the day were James Crawford and Stefan Babinsky. With bib number 28 and 32 they managed to place better than Super G specialists Walder and Sanders respectively in sixth and seventh place. 

The results of the day give Alexis Pinturault a 200-points lead ahead of second-placed Marco Odermatt in the Overall standings. With now injured Aleksander Aamodt Kilde out of the picture, the battle to the top seems already to be a sealed deal. Can Odermatt bounce back and conquer the Big Crystal Globe?

Photo credits: Getty Images

No one can Beat him!

Beat Feuz wins the second Downhill event on the Streif in Kitzbühel and earns the red bib for the next race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. He’s the seventh skier to win the Hahnenkamm event twice in the same year. The last one was Luc Alphand 26 years ago.

Photo credits: Getty Images & Olympic Channel

By Daphne Seberich

It’s all or nothing for Beat Feuz. The Swiss Downhill specialist gets crowned for the second time in a row the Hahnenkamm race king. He now will wear the red bib during the last speed event before the Cortina D’Ampezzo World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 

Triumphing on the most dangerous and nerve-wracking race of the season once wasn’t enough for Feuz. He had to score record-breaking results. He’s the seventh skier to win the Hahnenkamm Downhill race twice in the same year. The last one was French ski legend Luc Alphand 26 years ago.

Johan Clarey and Matthias Mayer completed the podium of the second Kitzbühel speed event respectively 17 and 38 hundredths of a second behind leader Feuz. 

Photo credits: The Brunswick news

The Hahnenkamm-race is the most dangerous and exhausting Downhill race of the whole FIS Alpine Ski World Cup. Every year the best skiers on earth compete to win the coveted chamois trophy, the symbol of Kitzbühel. You need to have a strong gut to try to ski down the Austrian slope. The start of the race alone, the Mäusefalle, has an 85% steepness. Most competitors fly several meters in the air before reaching the end of that section. Athletes cross the finish line with an average speed of 145 km/h. Only the best can conquer and win Kitzbühel. 

The weather conditions that caused the first Streif event to be broken-off and the second race to be postponed to Sunday were present at this competition as well. Visibility was worse than on Friday. The slope was icier too, but the money prize was more substantial. The winner of the Streif earned 90.000 Swiss Franks. 

Photo credits: Kitzbühel Tourismus

Bib-number-one-holder Maxence Muzaton set the bar for the next competitors to reach with a 1:57.23. Travis Ganong was the first to challenge the French. Intermediate by intermediate, the American increased his advantage to Muzaton and crossed the finish line 56 hundredths of a second ahead.

Romed Baumann, who had a season’s best result placing 8th on Friday, beat Ganong to the fastest time. The Austrian competing for Team Germany is a contender for a World Championship medal in Cortina. 

Johan Clarey, who had a terrible crash during the first training session, seemed to have learned his lesson. His advantage to Baumann at the finish line were a whopping 80 hundredths of a second. An incredible run by Clarey, who turned out to be the oldest skier on a podium at 40 years of age. 

Photo credits: Alpine Start Gate & SportNews.bz

Christof Innerhofer, the Italian Downhill skier, struggled in the first Hahnenkamm-race. This time, the South Tyrolean impressed with his aggressiveness on the skis and managed to squeeze in between Clarey and Baumann. Innerhofer is back and here to stay. He and Paris are the top contenders for Italy to score a medal in the World Championships on home soil.

Kjetil Jansrud, who only finished 18th on Friday, seemed not to be in his best shape, crossing the finish line with a 2.29-second delay and placing provisionally in sixth place. He then ended in 26th place in the final standings.

Right before Beat Feuz, the winner of the first Streif event, began his run, the weather conditions worsened. The race was momentarily interrupted. As the event resumed, the bib number 9 athlete started with a bang. Setting green intermediates right from the get-go was a good indicator for what was to come, but he then lost momentum in the middle part of the slope. After that, Feuz started his comeback to end the run with a 17 hundredths advantage ahead of Clarey. 

Photo credits: Mundo Deportivo

Dominik Paris, the beloved South Tyrolean ski star, scored his first seasonal podium in the first Kitzbühel race. He was hungry for more and wanted a back-to-back Top-3 result. 1.18 seconds separated Paris and the provisional leader at the finish line, ranking in seventh place. It was still a good Downhill result for Dominik, who has a shot at winning in Kitzbühel at the Super G race on Monday. 

Matthias Mayer, the runner-up of Friday’s Streif, gave Feuz a tough time with minimal margins of difference between the two. He ended scoring only third place. 

The Austrian speed team seemed to be on fire, with Max Franz challenging his teammate Mayer for a podium position. Vincent Kriechmayr took a colossal risk, which unfortunately didn’t pay off. He was very unlucky. A gate loosened as he was riding the snow downhill at 130 km/h. It fell right on the binding of his skis. If it had gone underneath, he could’ve had the same end to his run as Ryan Cochran-Siegle. The American crashed on Friday into the barriers. After a physical assessment at the local hospital, the doctors discovered a mini-fracture in his cervical spine. 

Video credits: ORF 1 & Infront Sports & Media AG

A surprisingly good performance was done by Marco Odermatt in Kitzbühel, who could not start his run on Friday due to the weather condition. The only remaining challenger for the Overall Crystal Globe was striving for a points finish and got something even better: a Top-10 result.

The speed athletes will prepare themselves for another daunting race on the Streif. Monday’s Super G will be a playing factor for the athletes’ convocation to the Cortina D’Ampezzo World Championships. Who will succeed?

Photo credits: Cortina 2021

A full-circle moment for Paris!

It feels like a full-circle moment for Dominik Paris, who returns on a Downhill race’s podium 366 days after the knee injury he suffered from in Kitzbühel. The South Tyrolean has a second chance for an even better result in the Sunday event on the Streif.

Photo credits: Eurosport & Sportnotizie24

By Daphne Seberich

Beat Feuz is the new Hahnenkamm-race winner of the 20/21 season. But he’s not who has impressed everyone the most during the race. Dominik Paris did. 

Stepping on the podium in third place 366 days after the fatal moment for Dominik’s 19/20 season feels like a full-circle moment. At that point in time, Paris was leading the Overall, Downhill and Super G standings; his best season to date. The Streif, although, has no mercy for anyone. The South Tyrolean, who has won three times in Kitzbühel, returned at the Streif seemingly to have what it takes to challenge for a podium.

The Hahnenkamm race is the most dangerous and exhausting Downhill race of the whole FIS Alpine Ski World Cup. Every year the best skiers on earth compete to win the coveted chamois trophy, the symbol of Kitzbühel. You need to have a strong gut to try to ski down the Austrian slope. The start of the race alone, the Mäusefalle, has an 85% steepness. Most competitors fly several meters in the air before reaching the end of that section. Athletes cross the finish line with an average speed of 145 km/h. Only the best can conquer and win Kitzbühel. 

Photo credits: Kitzbühel Tourismus

A big absentee is reigning Overall champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who got injured in a fall during the Super G training in Hinterreit, Austria. Kilde was taken to a hospital in Innsbruck where it was later confirmed that he tore the ACL of his right knee, bringing his season to an end.

“It is as I feared, but as I did not hope,” Kilde told Norwegian media immediately after the diagnosis. “I am in very good hands and have people with a lot of experience around me, so everything should go well. It’s especially annoying because I’m in the shape of my life, but I will come back strong.

Kilde’s teammate Kjetil Jansrud, who started the race with bib number 1, set the benchmark for Romed Baumann with a time of 1:56.28. The Austrian, now racing for Team Germany, earned a one-second advantage over the Norwegian and beat his past teammate and favorite-to-take-the-win Vincent Kriechmayr as well. Kriechmayr set the fastest time in the second training session. 

Beat Feuz blew everyone out of the water with the fastest time of 1:53.77. A blistering run by the Swiss 2018, 2019 and 2020 Downhill champion, who has never won on the Streif.

Andreas Sander’s 95 hundredths of a second delay squeezed him between Feuz and Baumann in second place after six athletes. Soon after, Matthias Mayer took over Sander’s place, closing the gap to the provisional leader to only 16 hundredths. 

With bib number 9, Dominik Paris started very strong. He proved to not be afraid of the Streif. With only 56 hundredths of a second of delay against Feuz, the South Tyrolean star secured a spot on the lowest step of the podium. A remarkable finish for Paris. His season’s best result was a fourth-place at one of his favorite Downhill races, Bormio. 

Photo credits: Getty Images

Christof Innerhofer is still suffering from the Covid-19 after-effects. His performance on the Streif was not at his usual level, being 3.04 seconds behind leader Feuz, placing provisionally in last place.

American Ryan Cochran-Siegle topped the first training session and showed great speed in the first half of the race. A little mistake turned out to be devastating for Cochran-Siegle. After the last small jump of the slope, the American crashed into the barriers, broke through them and ended outside of the track. The rescue helicopter immediately flew him to the nearest hospital for a physical assessment. 

Urs Kryenbühl suffered from a horrific crash at 146 km/h on the last jump towards the finish line. While he was in the air, his weight transferred to the front of his skis, putting him out of balance. Falling face-first onto the snow, Kryenbühl hit the icy slope with his head and continued to roll towards the end zone with his broken skis flying everywhere. He too was immediately flown to the nearest hospital to assess his physical condition. 

Video credits: ORF 1 & Infront Sports & Media AG

After the two delays, the weather started to turn for the worse with a southerly wind creating dangerous conditions and creating further setbacks. In the end, once the Top-30 racers were down the hill, everyone was breathing a sigh of relief as the Streif flexed its mighty muscles today.

Friday’s race was a replacement for the canceled Downhill, which should have taken place last weekend in Wengen. The athletes will get a second chance on Sunday to take on the Streif. On Monday, the speed disciplines weekend in Kitzbühel will end with a Super-G race.

Alexis Pinturault’s chances of winning a long-awaited first Overall title for a Frenchman since Luc Alphand in 1997 have increased significantly, thanks to the Norwegian’s abrupt end to his season. The 29-year-old is currently 218 points ahead of Kilde and 277 points ahead of Swiss Marco Odermatt.

Photo credits: Alexis Boichard for Agence Zoom

Will Paris blow everyone out of the water and win the second race of the Hahnenkamm?