Kriechmayr breaks through at downhill in Val Gardena

In a season dominated by two names so far, Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) reminded the tour that he is still around to shake things up.

Kriechmayr had yet to podium this season but soared through the downhill course at Val Gardena to claim his first victory of the 2022-23 Audi FIS World Cup season.

The Austrian skier was flawless on the slightly shorter course on Thursday. This sprint race was added to the schedule as a replacement for the cancellation in Beaver Creek.

It was an exciting race as each name surpassed the previous to take the top spot amongst the best skiers. Kriechmayr came across with a scorching time of 1:25:44 to lead the field.

“Today was really good skiing from myself and I am proud about that,” said Kriechmayr.

Despite the win Kriechmayr had room for even more speed.

“It was not 100 percent perfect,” said Kriechmayr. “I was pretty fast in the last part of the race. I think that is why I am on top. It is a sprint and you have to push from the start to the finish.”

It is the 28th career World Cup podium and 13th victory for the speed specialist Kriechmayr. His breakthrough is the first victory for the men’s Austrian team this season.

The odds-on favorite and winner of the first two downhills this season Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) left the door open for the field after a bit of a shaky run through the speed parts of the course. Kilde settled for a disappointing fifth place finish.

Kilde’s top rival and budding superstar Marco Odermatt (SUI) is still searching for his first career World Cup downhill victory after finishing in second, 0.11 seconds behind Kriechmayr.

Odermatt took another big step towards the overall title as he has now reached the podium in all seven of his races so far this season. It is the 36th career World Cup podium for the youngster.

“I am very, very happy with the race today. I did not know if I could ski for points, or for top ten, or for the podium today. I had no idea. It shows that I am in a high flow and everything is working at the moment,” said Odermatt.

Odermatt may have another chance to try and finally summit a downhill podium in the second downhill race at Val Gardena on Saturday.

“I actually had the plan to skip the downhill on Saturday but now I have to rethink that a little bit. I will decide tomorrow after the race and see how I feel,” said Odermatt.

Rounding out the podium was another Austrian, Matthias Mayer (AUT) who finished just 0.02 behind Odermatt.

Mayer now has 45 career World Cup podiums to his name. It is the first time he has reached the top three at Val Gardena.

“It is always nice to be on the podium. But it is so much nicer to be on a downhill podium that you have never been before. It was a great race, and I am very happy with the result,” said Mayer.

It is the second podium of the season for Mayer after finishing third in the super-G at Lake Louise.

Wily veteran and 41-year-old Johan Clarey (FRA) finished fourth.