Beijing 2022: Beat Feuz claims his first Olympic gold medal

After having to push back the men’s downhill until today, due to weather conditions, athletes were finally about to tackle “The Rock” and fight for the first alpine gold medal.

Two-time Olympic medallist, Beat Feuz (SUI), was coming into these Olympics off a high after winning the last downhill race in Kitzbuehel (AUT). After putting in a clinical run, the Swiss skier is now able to add another important trophy to his cabinet, an Olympic gold medal, his first. In 2018, Feuz claimed 2nd and 3rd place in the Super G and downhill, respectively, but now has been able to close the trio.  Feuz stated, "The Olympics are a big thing, and today it worked for me. In (PyeongChang) four years ago I was second and third, but today everything came together. It means the world to me.
"I can't think of anything more beautiful than flying home with a gold medal around my neck."

Finishing only 0.10 seconds behind Feuz, Johan Clarey (FRA) claims the silver medal to make him the oldest Olympic medallist in alpine skiing. The record previously belonged to Brode Miller (USA) who claimed bronze in the men’s Super G in 2014 at the age of 36 years and 127 days. This title now belongs to Clarey who won silver at the age of 41 years and 29 days. The Frenchman stated:
"I was pushing, pushing, taking a lot of risk. I knew I only had one chance left in my career to get a medal in the Olympics. 
"When you are a medallist (whether) you are 20 or 41 it doesn't matter, it's just an Olympic medal. It's already a good memory."

Chasing three Olympic gold medals in a row was Austrian, Matthias Mayer. Mayer who was contending to become the first skier to win three gold medals in speed events, held onto the lead until Feuz surpassed him by 0.16 seconds. Nonetheless, Mayer finishes on the podium in 3rd claiming a bronze medal. "What should I say? It's an Olympic bronze medal, I'm very happy. It was a really great race, it was such a close race. Everyone did their best. I feel pretty happy" Mayer said.

Potentially one of the biggest and nicest surprises of the day was seeing James Crawford (CAN) send it down the course to claim fourth in his first Olympic downhill race. The Canadian finished a mere 0.07 seconds behind Mayer. Not only was this Crawford best Olympic result across all disciplines, but it is his best result including the World Cup races.

Heading into today’s race, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) had set the bar high for himself, which is understandable being the current downhill World Cup standings leader. Unfortunately, his performance today was not enough to earn him a downhill Olympic medal. The Norwegian stated:
"I had high expectations for sure. It's been a great season and, in the Olympics, when you stand there as a favourite, you want to deliver.
"I did a hard race, 100%, but it was not good enough for a medal today. Unfortunately, I had some mistakes that cost me too much. 
"The Olympics are not over yet so I just have to keep on going."

The Swiss rocket, Marco Odermatt, put in a valiant effort for his first time competing at an Olympic Games with a 7th place finish.

Athletes will compete again tomorrow in the Super G which is scheduled to start at 11:00 local time / 04:00 CET.

Quotes courtesy of Olympic Information Service