Beat Feuz narrowly missed his fourth victory in the Lauberhorn downhill. The Emmentaler finished second, 34 hundredths of a second behind Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr.
(sda) Beat Feuz was 34 hundredths too slow to become the sole downhill record winner. His ride was good, but far from perfect. Nevertheless, it was enough for the fourth podium place in the sixth descent of the winter. Shortly after the swing at the finish, Feuz suspected that victory would not be enough. He had made one or two mistakes too many.
Marco Odermatt delivered another excellent performance. The Nidwaldner, clearly leading the overall World Cup ranking, finished fourth behind the Italian Dominik Paris, who regained the leader position in the discipline classification. Odermatt, who was second on the previous day, was two hundredths of a second behind on the podium again. With 8th place, Stefan Rogentin from Graubünden improved his best result in a World Cup downhill run by five places.
There is a certain irony in the fact that Feuz had to admit defeat to Kriechmayr of all people. The Upper Austrian could only start the two descents with a special permit after missing the two training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday due to an infection with the corona virus. In the Swiss camp there was anger that the world association FIS allowed Kriechmayr to the races because a training ride is a requirement in order to be able to start in the competition. Kriechmayr won the Lauberhorn classic for the second time. Three years ago he had also triumphed in front of Feuz.
Aleksander Kilde, winner of Friday’s downhill on a shortened route, had to settle for 7th place.
wengen Men’s World Cup Downhill: 1. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) 2:26.09. 2. Beat Feuz (SUI) 0.34 back. 3. Dominik Paris (ITA) 0.44. 4. Marco Odermatt (SUI) 0.46. 5. Matthias Mayer (AUT) 0.51. 6. Martin Cater (SLO) 0.66. 7. Aleksander Kilde (NOR) 0.98. 8. Stefan Rogentin (SUI) 1.36. 9. Otmar Striedinger (AUT) 1.67. 10. Max Franz (AUT) 1.77.
Further: 13. Niels Hintermann (SUI) 1.88. 22. Urs Kryenbuehl (SUI) 2.63. 25 Gilles Roulin (SUI) 2.93. 31. Justin Murisier (SUI) 3.65. – 48 drivers started, 46 classified. – Eliminated among others: Carlo Janka (SUI).