With 43 to 3: Frenchman creates a fairy tale for Kitzbühel

The Streif downhill run in Kitzbühel is the most famous ski race in the world. Also because there are always special stories on the Hahnenkamm. One of them was written by the Frenchman Blaise Giezendanner on Friday: He managed the feat of racing onto the podium with the extremely high start number 43.

Giezendanner had never been better than eighth in his 97 previous races. But then came January 21, 2022: With number 43, the 30-year-old swung out of the starting house in Kitzbühel, which had been lowered to the mousetrap because of the strong wind. At this point, the Austrian Matthias Mayer had already given his first interviews; after all, he was in third place and was supposed to take his 3th Kitzbühel podium. Because another runner comes in here? Nobody really wanted or could believe in that anymore.

>>> Here you can find the race report

Initially not even with Blaise Giezendanner, who opened up a big gap in the first split times. After the first stop he only had the 48th time on record. But then the Frenchman got better and better, took advantage of the good lighting conditions and caught the steep slope perfectly. The gap became smaller and smaller and as the skier from Chamonix crossed the finish line, the “3” lit up. Giezendanner’s first podium finish was perfect – and couldn’t have been crazier. Two fairy tales in one day “I’m speechless,” he said later in an ORF interview. “I have to look at this again. This is Kitzbühel, this is the biggest descent in the world, I have no words. That's wonderful."

So the French have written two special stories. Johan Clarey, a real veteran, came in second: the speed specialist is 2 years old, but he still takes the podium in the most spectacular race in the world. In doing so, Clarey has extended his own record: at this age, no skier had ever managed to race onto a World Cup podium. The victory, however, went to Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.

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With 43 to 3: Frenchman creates a fairy tale for Kitzbühel

“I’m speechless,” were Blaise Giezendanner’s first words after his performance in Kitzbühel. The Frenchman surprised the ski world on Friday.

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