'It is unbelievable': Aicher wins Kvitfjell Downhill for first World Cup victory

A day after after reaching her first World Cup podium, Emma Aicher (GER/Head) didn't waste any time climbing all the way to the top step.

The 21-year-old German won the Kvitfjell Downhill on Saturday, outclassing a superstar field with a stunning sprint finish to become the fourth debut winner on the women's World Cup tour this season.

In a battle of rising stars, Aicher pipped 22-year-old Lauren Macuga (USA/Rossignol) by three hundredths of a second, with Friday's winner Conny Hütter (AUT/Head, +0.19s) rounding out the podium in third.

"It is unbelievable," said Aicher, who was second in Friday's first Downhill. "I didn't think this was going to happen (so soon), especially in Downhill. I thought maybe in Slalom, but I'm really happy."

Before Aicher's run with bib No.16, it seemed as though Macuga had done enough to claim her second World Cup victory after she set the target time with bib No.3 and saw off all the top seeds.

Macuga, who won the St. Anton Super G in January, built her lead in the lower sector of the Olympiabakken course, comprising the final jump and the flat glide to the finish, where she was quickest of all until Aicher surpassed her.

No fewer than four skiers, including stars Hütter, Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol, fourth) and Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/Head, seventh), led Macuga's time at the final intermediate split, but couldn't match the American's speed into the finish and saw the light turn from green to red.

Hütter and Gut-Behrami, in particular, were a bit wild on the final jump, with both skiers landing well to the left of the ideal racing line, especially the Swiss No.1.

Finally, it was left to Aicher to flip the script.

The German was in touch with Macuga all the way down the course, finding a tight line through the S-turn in the mid-section where others had gone wide, but she still found herself trailing by 11 hundredths at the last split.

A perfect entrance to the final jump and a controlled flight, however, saw Aicher set the top speed at 126.5km/h through the speed trap and zoom to the finish to end Macuga's dream of a first Downhill victory.

Instead, Aicher joined Macuga, Camille Rast (SUI/Head), Zrinka Ljutic (CRO/Atomic) as first-time winners on the women's World Cup tour this season.

She also made national history by becoming the first German woman to win a World Cup Downhill since Viktoria Rebensburg in 2020 and the first German woman to win in Kvitfjell since Katja Seizinger in Giant Slalom in 1996.

"It's crazy that I'm one of them now — it's weird," Aicher said of having her name mentioned in the same breath as her storied compatriots.

While the hundredths weren't in her favor on Saturday, Macuga continued her breakout season with her fourth top-five finish of the campaign, and impressed even herself with the way she finished her run.

"I especially wanted to nail the bottom after my close call yesterday and I nailed it down here, there was no doubt in my mind," she said.

"I was charging, trying to be clean and trying to be forward over the jump. Because I think the most important thing is to be clean and tight through the air to carry so much speed to the finish, and I think I did that."

While Macuga and Aicher were near-perfect at the bottom of the course, Friday's winner Hütter was left to rue her mistake on the final jump, even as she closed to within 16 points of Brignone's lead in the race for the Downhill Crystal Globe with two contests left.

"With my run I'm not that satisfied (as) yesterday, but for sure when it's going to be a podium, I'm happy," she said.

"It was not that clean (compared to) yesterday — it was a little bit more rough and bumpy, it was not that easy."

Despite her disappointment, the 32-year-old Austrian couldn't help but be impressed with the two skiers a decade younger than her who joined her on the podium.

"The young guns crushing it today," she said. "It was super nice because a new generation is here.

"With Lauren, she did a great job the whole season, and Emma Aicher, she's skiing so clean but she did a lot of mistakes (in previous races), and now she knows how to do it without a mistake."

Hütter is not ready to concede defeat to her young rivals, however, ahead of the final speed contest in Kvitfjell this weekend, Sunday's Super G.

"The old ones want to fight back," she said.