Kilde's sweet triumph - South Tyroleans can't get up to speed

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde comes from Bærum, a community of 130.000 in the south of Norway. But on Saturday his triumph in Beaver Creek (USA), 7500 kilometers away, may have felt like a small home victory. The legendary and feared “Birds of Prey” slope is just a few minutes’ drive from the hometown of his girlfriend Mikaela Shiffrin.

But that's just one point why victory tastes so particularly sweet for Kilde. There is also his previous series: two descents, two victories – that is an impressive message to the speed competition. There is also the Norwegian's physical condition: Kilde has been slightly ill in the last few days, he completed the first training session wearing the snow overalls and not the racing suit and thus accumulated a gap of 15 seconds. And there would also be the minimal lead over his long-term rival Marco Odermatt. The Swiss lost a paltry six hundredths of a second and ended up in second place. The Swiss high-flyer still has to wait for his first downhill victory.

Marco Odermatt showed strongly. © APA / SEAN M. HAFFEY

Kilde and Odermatt were in a league of their own, as third-placed Canadian James Crawford was already around eight tenths of a second behind. It is remarkable how the Norwegian and the Swiss defied the extremely difficult conditions. In Beaver Creek, where a run had to be canceled on Friday, it was very windy, the slope was very rough and visibility was poor. Many athletes had difficulties with these conditions.

Nothing to gain for Paris and Innerhofer Among others, the two South Tyroleans Dominik Paris and Christof Innerhofer, who haven't really gotten up to speed yet. Paris started the race with start number nine and was unlucky because the wind was blowing particularly strongly at that time. The man from Ultimo couldn't find an effective solution on the tricky slope, kept making small mistakes and ended up in 20th place.

Dominik Paris ended up in 20th place. © Pentaphoto

Innerhofer was doing well in the upper part, but then he made a big mistake and was only able to stay in the race with difficulty. Of course, the time was gone. In the end, Gaiser ended up outside the points. In the three speed races, Paris and Innerhofer never came close to the top 10.

Schieder's sense of success Another South Tyrolean celebrated a small sense of achievement: Florian Schieder was back in the points for the first time after recovering from a torn cruciate ligament. With the high start number 53, he ended up in 28th place – a strong sign of life. The best Azzurro on Saturday was Matteo Marsaglia, who came 16th.

On Sunday, the Beaver Creek weekend will round off with the Super-G at 18 p.m.

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Kilde's sweet triumph - South Tyroleans can't get up to speed

Second descent of the winter, second victory for Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. The Norwegian is in outstanding form at this early stage of the season. The South Tyroleans cannot say that.

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