Kilde’s brilliant comeback after the cruciate ligament rupture

Vincent Kriechmayr, Super-G world champion and winner of the small crystal ball, had imagined the first two races of the season in this discipline in Beaver Creek differently. After finishing fifth on Thursday and yesterday, the 30-year-old Gramastettner was mad at himself. “Upstairs I lost time, downstairs I was too direct about the jump. I had seen it very differently, ”said the TVN catfish athlete annoyed. “It’s just not fast enough. At least I showed more commitment downstairs than the day before. “

Kriechmayr’s deficit on winner Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who reported back impressively after tearing a cruciate ligament, was 0.95 seconds. The 29-year-old Norwegian, who is in a relationship with the American super all-rounder Mikaela Shiffrin, celebrated his seventh World Cup victory, the fourth in the Super-G. “That’s great, everything went well,” said Kilde, who won the overall standings in 2019/20, happily.

Marco Odermatt just missed the “double”. The Thursday champion was second only three hundredths behind Kilde. “It was difficult to keep the tension going. That’s why I admire someone like Marcel Hirscher, who regularly delivered for two days in a row, ”said the Swiss. Third place went to American Travis Ganong yesterday.

In the third speed race of the season, the ÖSV aces remained without a podium for the first time. Matthias Mayer, who had won the descent in Lake Louise before Kriechmayr, had to be content with fourth place. “The drive actually seemed pretty good to me, so I was surprised by the gap of 0.92 seconds,” said the double Olympic champion: “I may have to question everything today – including the setup.” There isn’t much time left. The bird of prey runway in Colorado has departures today (7 p.m., ORF 1) and on Sunday (8 p.m., ORF 1).

Goggia in a class of its own

Sofia Goggia was in a league of her own in the first women’s downhill in Lake Louise. The Italian outclassed the competition on the way to her twelfth World Cup victory. “I didn’t risk that much,” marveled the 29-year-old, who triumphed 1.47 seconds ahead of Breezy Johnson (USA). The ÖSV aces shone with three athletes among the top seven. The Styrian Mirjam Puchner was third ahead of Ramona Siebenhofer, Cornelia Hütter was seventh.

Nicole Schmidhofer lost 4.62 seconds in her sensational comeback 350 days after the serious knee injury, but the 32-year-old was still shining with the sun. “It was cool to drive and a good step forward.”

Today (8.30 p.m., ORF 1) the second run is up, tomorrow (6.30 p.m., ORF 1) a Super-G is on the program.