Sarrazin Revels In Double Kitzbuehel Downhill Delight
Faizan Hashmi Published January 20, 2024 | 07:30 PM
Kitzbühel, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jan, 2024) France's Cyprien Sarrazin laid down a near-faultless run on Saturday to claim a second World Cup downhill victory in two days on the mythical Kitzbuehel course.
Sarrazin's fifth career victory came on an electric descent of the 3.3km-long Streif course, widely regarded as the most exacting on the circuit, in 1min 52.96sec, pushing Swiss rival Marco Odermatt into second at 0.91sec.
Italy's Dominik Paris, a four-time winner in Kitzbuehel with three downhill and one super-G successes, rounded out the podium, a further 0.53sec adrift, with just eight racers getting within two seconds of Sarrazin.
As Sarrazin raced into the finish area, his eyes turned to the large electronic result board.
With first place confirmed, the French racer ripped off his skis and jumped onto the safety pads on the side of the piste, pumping his arms skywards and letting out an enormous roar.
Kitzbuehel is known for the tens of thousands of knowledgeable fans who pack the upmarket Tyrolean resort and Sarrazin's show of emotion was greeted with a similarly gladiatorial response.
"That really was 'the' run today," said Sarrazin. "It was incredible, I enjoyed myself from top to bottom, I felt that there was speed.
"I cross the line, I turn my head and I see that there is green for first place."
- Streak of form -
Odermatt said Sarrazin had been "unbeatable today - even with a perfect run from myself, it wouldn't be enough".
"Everything was set for a great show today: perfect slope, perfect weather and I really wanted it today, but I already made mistakes at the top - the speed was maybe not the best, but it was there," he said.
"When you come to the finish leading by one and a half seconds here, you can celebrate, but it wasn't enough, by far."
The result confirms the amazing streak of form Sarrazin is enjoying, moving him to within six points of Odermatt in the downhill standings.
The Swiss racer remains well in control of the overall standings.
The 29-year-old Frenchman won the super-G and finished second in both downhills in Wengen last week, having also won the Bormio downhill at the end of December.
Before this season, Sarrazin was a relative unknown, with one parallel giant slalom victory, back in 2016, as well as a second place in a giant slalom in 2019, both in Alta Badia.
His victory in the opening downhill in Kitzbuehel on Saturday made him the first French winner in the discipline here in 27 years. Luc Alphand won in 1997.
Sarrazin's double also mirrored Alphand's feat of two downhill victories in 1995. The last racer to achieve the double was Switzerland's now-retired reigning Olympic downhill champion Beat Feuz, in 2021.
Celebrities including Austrian bodybuilder/actor-cum-former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and American politician John Kerry were in the stands to watch the racing down the course on the Hahnenkamm mountain, named after a rooster's comb.
A vertiginous start propels racers to 100km/h in the first five seconds and they quickly accelerate to motorway-coasting speeds of 140km/h further down the piste.
Snakes and rolls send competitors barrelling through a wide variety of terrain, in parts propelling them in the air, only for them to quickly re-align for icy traverses that test technical ability and mastery of well-honed equipment.
Odermatt came down with bib number seven and streaked to 1:53.87. It looked like that performance could well be the day's marker.
But Sarrazin had other plans. He followed his Swiss rival directly and overcame a nervy jump up top to lay down an dominant run in cold conditions and brilliant sunshine.
He picked a fast, high line to go close to Austrian Fritz Strobl's course record of 1:51.58 from 1997.
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