After his victories in Bormio and Wengen, Sarrazin came to Kitzbühel as one of the favorites and did full justice to this role. In what was only his 13th World Cup downhill, the Frenchman finally hit the big time. Sarrazin delivered a wild ride over the Streif and was still 0.02 seconds behind Schieder until the penultimate split. In the Traverse, however, Sarrazin picked up the momentum again thanks to a risky drive and made starting number 14 the winning number.
Sarrazin became the first Streif winner since Luc Alphand in 1997 and only the third Frenchman ever. Jean Claude Killy triumphed in 1967. “Clement Noel, a good friend of mine, already has a gams like that (in slalom, note). I love her, she is beautiful. Kitzbühel winner sounds unreal. Bormio was my first downhill victory. It felt different. Every victory feels somehow different,” said Sarrazin in an ORF interview.
Deja vu for second place referee
For Schieder, the first Kitz descent became deja vu, as he only had second place on Friday, like last year. At that time, the 28-year-old Kriechmayr had to admit defeat by 0.23 seconds. This year, the South Tyrolean was only a blink away from his first downhill victory. Schieder was also very happy with second place.
“It went well. After the Hausbergkante I didn’t dare to go on the train. Maybe I lost it then. It’s a shame about the five hundredths, but Sarrazin is in great form. Staying in front of Odi (Odermatt, note) isn’t that bad either,” said Schieder, who will have another chance to write his name in the Streif winner’s books on Saturday (11.30 a.m., live on ORF1).
Odermatt struggles with the upper part
The same applies to the Odermatt mentioned. The World Cup dominator did not deliver an optimal ride, especially in the upper part of the Streif. The 26-year-old Swiss made the important exit from the steep slope perfectly. Nevertheless, Odermatt, who came to Kitzbühel with a double victory in the home race in Wengen, continued to lose time afterwards.
“It wasn’t the perfect ride. If everything doesn’t go perfectly, you can’t win in Kitzbühel. I sensed from the first goal that something wasn’t right. It was a bad start. I also didn’t catch the U-hook well, then you won’t have the speed. “I hadn’t found a perfect match in training either,” said Odermatt, who leads Sarrazin by 26 points in the Downhill World Cup.
The journey from Odermatt
Marco Odermatt didn’t manage to drive the way he wanted. In the end, it was enough for the season dominator to secure a podium finish.
Kriechmayr with wrong tactics in Traverse
Kriechmayr also lost crucial time in the traverse. Everything would have been in place for the 32-year-old Upper Austrian to achieve a top placement. Kriechmayr completed the upper part like something out of a picture book and drew the perfect line in the snow until the intermediate time after the steep slope exit. The reward was 0.21 seconds ahead of winner Sarrazin. However, Kriechmayr did not get the further passages as he wanted.
The double world champion from Cortina d’Ampezzo particularly struggled with the final part. “The first part was very good. From the local mountain to the finish I may have ridden too tactically and followed the line too much. It doesn’t tolerate that. I didn’t want to set it up that way, so it’s my own fault. Tomorrow I know that I have to go through this mercilessly from top to bottom,” said Kriechmayr and announced revenge for Saturday.
Kriechmayr in seventh place
Vincent Kriechmayr managed the upper part of the Streif perfectly. After that, the Upper Austrian didn’t have a ride at the limit in all sections. In the end he came seventh.
Hemetsberger causes a moment of shock
For the remaining Austrians, the top ten was clearly out of reach, which ultimately resulted in the second-worst ÖSV result on the Streif. Otmar Striedinger was the second best ÖSV downhill skier. The 32-year-old Styrian finished in 20th place, 1.67 seconds behind. “I can’t be satisfied. But I didn’t want to leave anything unturned. “I noticed while driving that I didn’t have enough grain in the tank,” said Striedinger, who had been sick in bed for the last three days.
Christopher Neumayer was 2.00 seconds behind, Stefan Babinsky lost 2.09 seconds to the Frenchman. Daniel Danklmaier was eliminated in the traverse. Daniel Hemetsberger caused an early moment of shock with number two. The 32-year-old from Upper Austria lost his balance while exiting the steep slope and subsequently slid along the tarpaulin. Hemetesberger was just able to avoid a fall, but the race was over for him in terms of time.
