Ski racer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde won the first of two downhill runs on the Streif in Kitzbühel with an outstanding run. In a spectacular race with numerous changes in the lead, the 29-year-old Norwegian won with a solid lead of 0.42 seconds over 41-year-old Frenchman Johan Clarey and two-time Olympic champion Matthias Mayer (Austria/+0.67 seconds).
As in the previous downhill races, the five German starters played no role in the battle for the top positions. Her best was again Dominik Schwaiger, who finished 13th in the intermediate standings, 1.58 seconds behind Kilde. Behind them were Vice World Champions Andreas Sander (+1.98), Romed Baumann (+2.05) and Josef Ferstl (+2.54), who fell during training on Wednesday. “It would have been better, I did it better in training,” Schwaiger said on ARD.
Because of the strong wind on the Hahnenkamm, the route was slightly shortened, and the start was just above the Mausefalle. Above all, Kilde mastered the apparently simple slides above and the treacherous curves in front of the Hausberg Kante very well and positioned himself with his sixth win of the season and the first in Kitzbühel as the favorite for the second descent on Sunday and the Olympic Games in Beijing (4th to 20th . February).
