4th downhill win at Beaver Creek for Aksel Lund Svindal
Aug 31, 2018·Alpine SkiingBirds of Prey downhill 2017 is in the books and Aksel Lund Svindal from Norway won it for the 4th time. In second place, Switzerland’s Kugelblitz Beat Feuz, who won the downhill opener in Lake Louise last week, takes second place. The impressive young German Thomas Dressen claims his maiden World Cup podium at Beaver Creek.
Charging the course from bib n°1, Aksel Lund Svindal found the best line right away and set a time of 1:40:46. It turned out that no one after him was able to untermatch that time and Svindal could stay on the Audi leader chair all the way to the end of the race, claiming his fourth downhill victory in Beaver Creek and his 33th World Cup win through all disciplines.
Shortly after him, with start number 3, the Lake Louise downhill winner Beat Feuz came close, finishing only +0.15 off Svindal’s pace. The downhill World Champion from Switzerland finishes second for the third time in the Birds Of Prey downhill, always defeated by a quite small margin.
In third place, Germany’s Thomas Dressen created the surprise of the day, by earning his first career World Cup podium. The last German downhill podium goes back to 2004 with a win in Val Gardena. The 23 years young athlete from Mittenwald made a big step in the speed disciplines coming into that season.
Tomorrow, a third and last race will be staged in Beaver Creek, with a giant slalom starting at 9h45 LOC - 17h45 CET / 12h45 LOC – 20h00 CET.