Italian double victory in men's downhill race in Bormio

Before the race, Beat Feuz described Christof Innerhofer and Vincent Kriechmayr as the favorites in the downhill classic. He himself would be happy if he could finish the race in the top five. It is clear that such statements should always be taken with a grain of salt. But as far as Innerhofer was concerned, the Emmental native was right for once.

Hannes Reichelt (AUT), who started first, had his fair share of trouble with the icy Stelvio slope and was happy to reach the finish unharmed. Christoph Innerhofer (ITA) started the race right after the Austrian and showed the competition how to ski the course. Ride the line cleanly, absorb the hits skillfully and land the jumps safely. It was a demonstration of his skills and with a lead of almost 2.5 seconds over Reichelt, a podium finish seemed as good as certain.

Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT), who started as another favorite after Innerhofer, skied strongly but not outstandingly. He was the best Austrian on the day and did not finish on the podium, but still in fifth place. Beat Feuz (SUI) started the race in fifth position and coped better with track than he had assumed before. He finished 16 hundredths behind Innerhofer in intermediate second place. Dominik Paris (ITA) started the race in seventh place. And early on the intermediate times lit up green. It was obviously his race, because he skied the course perfectly and was ultimately just a tick faster, by 0.36 seconds, than his compatriot Christoph Innerhofer.

There was not much to see from the Norwegians on this day. Aksel Lund Svindal, who was previously unsure whether he should take part in this race, lost 1.71 seconds to the winner. Kjetil Jansrud could not keep the track in the upper part of the race and went out. He could not understand it himself and raised his arms gesticulating.

Even the other riders could not change anything in this Italian double victory. For Dominik Paris this is the third victory on this track.