Kriechmayr ends downhill season on high as Kilde lifts crystal globe

Vincent Kriechmayr ended his downhill season on a high with his fourth victory of the season in Andorra. The 31-year-old Austrian confirmed his most successful campaign of his career as the alpine skiing World Cup Finals commenced on Wednesday. Ad Aleksander Aamodt Kilde had already wrapped up the Crystal Globe ahead of Kriechmayr in second, but the world silver medallist could only manage sixth.

SoldeuHighlights: Kriechmayr bolts to final downhill World Cup victory in SoldeuAN HOUR AGO Norway's Kilde cannot snatch the super-G globe from Marco Odermatt on Thursday, but allowed himself a moment of celebration after defending his downhill title. «It's again a dream come true,» Kilde said. «Today was an amazing race, a fair race, a tough one, so congrats to the winners.

»It's been a crazy season but I'm really happy with how everything went. Sitting here with this globe for the second time in a row is unbelievable. I will keep going and see if I can do it again next time.

«It was of a fight to the end last year with [Beat] Feuz, so that was nerve wracking. Today I was more relaxed. I tried to ski for the win but wasn't good enough today.» Swiss world champion and overall alpine leader Odermatt came home in 15th, but one of the bigger stories of the day came from an unlikely source.

Germany's Romed Baumann, 37, rolled back the years and finished 0.09 seconds behind Kriechmayr to take a spot on a downhill podium for the first time since 2015. Baumann's teammate Andreas Sander came within a whisker of second, trailing his compatriot by 0.13 seconds. Sander has now got back-to-back podiums after his super-G second in Aspen, which was the 33-year-old's first top three finish of his career.