Electric Kilde Fires Olympic Broadside With Kitzbuehel Victory

In-form Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde fired an Olympic broadside when he streaked to victory in the famed World Cup downhill in Kitzbuehel on Friday

Kitzbhel, Austria, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Jan, 2022 ) :In-form Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde fired an Olympic broadside when he streaked to victory in the famed World Cup downhill in Kitzbuehel on Friday.

On a course cut 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 unbelievable," said Kilde of his 12th World Cup victory.

"I don't understand myself why I was so fast. I've never been like that before." 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.

Canada's James Crawford came in sixth ahead of American Travis Ganong, with Feuz in eighth spot.

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.