Austrian skier Kriechmayr wins classic downhill in Kitzbuhel

Vincent Kriechmayr won the first of two downhills on the classic Streif course, while fellow pre-race favorites Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Marco Odermatt only narrowly avoided high-speed crashes Friday in Kitzbuhel, Austria.

Kriechmayr mastered the demanding course in cloudy conditions as the world champion from Austria sped to his third win of the season and 15th overall.

"I have been really fighting. If you look at the results from previous years, I was not the favorite," Kriechmayr told Austrian broadcaster ORF. "But I wanted to do things better this time. I took a lot of risks. I was not without mistakes but the risks paid off."

As skies over the middle of the course cleared during the race, several late starters benefited from improved visibility.

Wearing bib No. 43, Florian Schieder posted the fastest times in the middle section and finished 0.23 seconds behind Kriechmayr in second for the Italian's first career podium.

Swiss skier Niels Hintermann finished 0.31 behind in third, and Jared Goldberg came 0.35 back in fourth for the American's career-best World Cup result.

Kilde, who leads the World Cup downhill standings after winning four of the previous six races this season, finished 0.97 off the pace in 16th.

The Norwegian lost time on Kriechmayr early on but gained on the Austrian at every following split. He then seemed to risk too much in the bend approaching the finish stretch. He leaned backward and came off the course, but regained control just before hitting a commercial banner.

"That was close, really close, almost too close," Kilde said. "It really happened so quick. When I landed, I collapsed a little bit, and everything happens so fast. It's Kitzbuhel, it's how it is."

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