Vincent Kriechmayr bolts to final men's downhill Alpine Ski World Cup win in Soldeu ahead of Romed Baumann

Vincent Kriechmayr took victory in the final men’s downhill at the Alpine Ski World Cup in Soldeu to cap off a fine season. Kriechmayr claimed his fourth downhill victory ahead of German duo Romed Baumann and Andreas Sander in second and third places respectively. Ad Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway had already secured the overall downhill title ahead of Kriechmayr in second, but the day belonged to the Austrian who led the way with a time of 1:26.59.

World ChampionshipsKriechmayr opens Austria's account with men's super-G gold11/02/2021 AT 18:03 Baumann was the first racer out on the course, and he set a searing pace with a time of 1:26.68. Sander, in bib number three, put in an impressive effort of his own but narrowly missed out on the lead, finishing four hundredths of a second behind the German to temporarily settle into second place. Kilde, who already had the downhill globe in the bag, could only register a time of 1:26.89 on his run, which was good enough for joint-sixth place, alongside Italy’s Mattia Casse.

Marco Odermatt, who had already claimed the big globe, super-G and giant slalom titles, couldn’t add the downhill to his haul as he clocked a time of 1:27.60, which was only good enough for 15th on the day. «I kept pushing from the first gate to the finish,» said a delighted Kriechmayr afterwards. «It’s a short downhill and every hundredth is important.

I’m happy with my skiing today. Much better than in Aspen before. It was a good race.

On his overall season, Kriechmayr said he was pleased but is ultimately eyeing further improvements to match his rivals. »It was my best season so far in downhill. Super-G which is usually my best discipline, I was a little bit struggling the whole season.