“It’s a very, very close game,” said Matthias Mayer with a view to the downhill World Cup. The Carinthian finished third in the first Kvitfjell race yesterday, beaten by just 0.12 seconds from Swiss Niels Hintermann and Canadian surprise Cameron Alexander at the same time. As a result, Mayer, third in the discipline World Cup, reduced the gap to leader Aleksander Aamodt Kilde to 28 points after nine of a total of eleven descents this season. The Norwegian local hero finished fifth yesterday behind Beat Feuz, the Swiss is right in the middle of the race for the small crystal ball as second. The second Kvitfjell downhill follows today (11.30 a.m.) before the season finale in Courchevel (March 16) comes to an end.
The head-to-head race is good for Mayer. “Tight races at such a level is the coolest thing there is,” said the third in the Olympic downhill. Cameron Alexander’s debut victory only partially surprised Mayer: “We knew that young Canadians were strong, but to win with starting number 39 is crazy. He likes the hill.” At the European Cup in mid-February, 24-year-old Alexander had already finished first, fifth and second in the Super-G in Kvitfjell.
For the other ÖSV runners, things went from unsatisfactory to catastrophic. Nußdorfer Daniel Hemetsberger came in 22nd, Max Franz was 28th, Stefan Babinsky 30th World Champion Vincent Kriechmayr (57th) completely messed up his run. Kjetil Jansrud (36) ends his career on today’s downhill.
Italian affair
With Federica Brignone (477 points), Elena Curtoni (374) and Sofia Goggia (332), three Italians are leading the discipline ranking ahead of today’s Super-G in Lenzerheide (Sui). The Styrian Tamara Tippler (259) calculates fourth chances for a top three place. In Switzerland, Mikaela Shiffrin returns to the World Cup stage. She skipped Crans-Montana after the Olympic debacle.
Source: Nachrichten
