Downhill in Kvitfjell

Kriechmayr on the podium in the final, but Paris takes the win

Vincent Kriechmayr(Bild: GEPA)

South Tyrolean Dominik Paris won the final men’s downhill race of the season in Kvitfjell ahead of Franjo von Allmen (SUI) and Vincent Kriechmayr—and thus also secured third place in the World Cup standings. Still, with his podium finish, the Upper Austrian overtook Kitzbühel winner Giovanni Franzoni and thus finished the downhill standings in fourth place.

Dominik Paris won the final downhill race of the season in Kvitfjell. The South Tyrolean, who will soon turn 37, prevailed at one of his favorite venues ahead of Olympic champion Franjo von Allmen (+0.19 sec.) and Upper Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr (+0.60). Kriechmayr, who had triumphed in Courchevel the previous week, concluded the downhill season with a third podium finish and subsequently drew attention with a “message to the federation.”

He finished the season in fourth place in the downhill standings—behind Odermatt, Von Allmen, and Paris, and just ahead of Franzoni. The 34-year-old ÖSV team leader even briefly had his sights set on a third victory of the season on Saturday, winning the hundredths-of-a-second battle with the previously leading Alexis Monney in the final meters. But then came Paris. “I think three-tenths at most; Domme was outstanding—I couldn’t have done that for the life of me,” said Kriechmayr.

Here are the final results:

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/AP/Marco Trovati, GEPA)

Paris raced to his 20th downhill victory
With 20 downhill victories, Paris is now the sole number two in the World Cup behind Franz Klammer (25). “That’s a long way off, and I’m not getting any younger,” said the winner, whose future is also up in the air. “Let’s finish this race and then we’ll see.” He celebrated his first victory of the season, his seventh overall in Kvitfjell. He is now the record holder in Norway and Bormio. “In both downhill races, you have to shift your weight; I let my weight shift.”

(Bild: GEPA)

For overall champion Marco Odermatt, however, the “Olympia-Bakken” course remains a tough nut to crack; he finished seventh (+0.92). Kitzbühel winner Giovanni Franzoni (11th) was also unable to showcase his technical skills. The other Austrians: Daniel Hemetsberger finished ninth, Raphael Haaser 15th, Marco Schwarz 24th, and second-to-last—because Swiss skier Niels Hintermann made a few braking turns as a farewell gesture. In the final, only the top 15 earn World Cup points again.