Kriechmayr edges Odermatt in shortened Val Gardena downhill, Canada's Crawford finishes 7th

A double world champion two seasons ago. The winner in Wengen last winter. Now, Vincent Kriechmayr has added victory in the classic Val Gardena downhill to his growing list of career accomplishments.

The Austrian edged defending overall World Cup champion Marco Odermatt by 0.11 seconds on a shortened Saslong course in Italy on Thursday in a race that was rescheduled from Beaver Creek.

Three-time Olympic champion Matthias Mayer finished third, 0.13 behind.

Canada's Jack Crawford posted another top-10 finish, sliding into seventh place with a time that was 0.32 back of Kriechmayr.

Odermatt raced immediately before Kriechmayr and celebrated his run as if he had just recorded his first career win in downhill.

But the more experienced Kriechmayr showed his feel for the extensive series of bumps through the technical ciaslat section and was faster than Odermatt over the final jump and into the finish.

"I tried to keep 2 per cent back just to get out more speed after the ciaslat and I think that's why I'm in the lead, because I was pretty fast in the last part of the race," Kriechmayr said. "Because it's a sprint, you have to keep pushing from start to finish."

It was Odermatt's first time racing the downhill in Val Gardena.

"I really didn't know if I can score points, or top 10, podium," he said. "I had really no idea. It's perfect. It shows the timing and high flow and everything is working at the moment."

Odermatt planned to skip the regularly scheduled downhill on Saturday to rest up for giant slaloms — his best discipline — over the next two days in nearby Alta Badia.

"Now I have to rethink again," he said.

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who won the opening two downhills of the season, placed fifth, 0.26. He pointed to starting