The Prague Post - Electric Kilde fires Olympic broadside with Kitzbuehel victory

On a course cut slightly short up high because of wind, Kilde clocked 1min 55.92sec to claim 100,000 euros ($113,400) in prize money, part of a 1m-euro pot on offer for three days of racing in the upmarket Austrian resort.

France's Johan Clarey, at 41 the elder statesman of the circuit, claimed second, 0.42sec adrift, while late-running teammate Blaise Giezendanner took a shock third (+0.63) after starting with bib number 43 in the field of 51.

"It's always been a dream for me to win in Kitzbuehel. I haven't been close in downhill before, it's an incredible feeling," said Kilde of his 12th World Cup victory.

The Norwegian, who is one half of alpine skiing's golden couple alongside his girlfriend, US star Mikaela Shiffrin, said he had come far in the last 12 months.

"I looked through my phone this morning and a photo from one year ago popped up and I was standing on my balcony in Innsbruck with crutches, having just had an operation on my knee," he said. "It's quite different now."

Kilde said the timing of his win "couldn't be better, to be honest. I'm just so stoked, so it's good for the Olympics".

Clarey, who bettered his own record as the oldest World Cup podium finisher, admitted to having woken up "stressed out".

"I think I knew I was capable of doing something good, I gave my all," he said, calling Kilde a "monster" on skis.

With the men's downhill at the Beijing Olympics just 16 days away, Kilde upstaged the fancied Swiss duo of Marco Odermatt and Beat Feuz, who won last season's two downhills here.

He also nullified a strong Austrian presence, including Matthias Mayer and Vincent Kriechmayr.

Mayer was nudged off the podium by Giezendanner's late show while Odermatt, who retains his lead in the overall World Cup standings, finished fifth, at 0.78sec.

Kilde truly mastered the 3km-long Streif course, the most prestigious course on the circuit, but also widely regarded as the most testing, down the Hahnenkamm mountain overlooking Kitzbuehel.

Any thoughts of Olympic gold are temporarily put on hold as racers focused completely on the thigh-trembling descent, which made its debut in 1931 and now sees the skiers reach motorway-coasting speeds of 140km/h while negotiating sections that have an 85-percent gradient.

- 'Riding a MotoGP bike' -

Kilde came out on top in best negotiating an icy course that falls, snakes and rolls through a wide variety of terrain, forcing racers to endure centrifugal forces of 3.1G in places.

The 29-year-old Norwegian could even afford an error coming into the penultimate jump so electrifying had his pace higher up the course been.

On a day of racing in which racers were deprived of the normal stomach-churning start that propels them to 100km/h in five seconds, eight racers failed to finish and were left to extract themselves from some of the 15km of nets and fencing ensuring safety down the course.

Covid-19 restrictions meant a maximum of 1,000 spectators this year, a far cry from the 90,000 Kitzbuehel normally welcomes in one of the world's most memorably raucous sporting events.

But one interested participant was local hero Marcel Hirscher, a record eight-time overall World Cup champion who retired in 2019.

He acted as one of the forerunners down the course, to give organisers an idea of conditions and safety.

"I wish I could book this racetrack every weekend because it’s like riding a MotoGP bike on a big circuit," the 32-year-old gushed.

Hirscher was also not surprised by Clarey's second-placed finish, the Frenchman's fourth podium finish in Kitzbuehel from a total of nine in a career stretching back to the 2004 season.

"We all knew he was prepared and it's amazing he's on point today and really good to see him on the podium," Hirscher said.

The Hahnenkamm race week continues with a slalom on Saturday, with heavy snow forecast, and a second downhill on Sunday.

J.Simacek--TPP