Today Aleksander Aamodt Kilde captured his 5th victory (3 DH, 2 SG) on the Saslong course (Svindal won 7 in Val Gardena). What's his secret formula? Well, he was fastest from the start to the first split, an Attacking Viking signature and he was fastest through the critical Ciaslat section nearer the bottom. The sentimental favorite and ageless wonder Johan Clarey finished 2nd and was fast everywhere on the course but the Ciaslat section where he was only 36th fastest.
This was Kilde's 9th World Cup downhill win, today he passed his former teammate Kjetil Jansrud, for third-most World Cup downhill wins among Norwegian men.
Notes
We had flat light on Thursday because of the bad weather, but light is always a big factor on this course. As the race goes along the lower part of the track goes from shade to light. The increasing illumination has always helped later bibs on the Saslong and it does again today. Here's a great video breaking down critical parts of the course from former US coach Sasha Rearick.
Clarey! Ageless wonder. Great aggressive skiing. He leads a very strong French effort (three in the top 6). As FX Rallet points out this hasn't happened in a while.
Today is the 100th running in Val Gardena on the Saslang. Here's some history.
Nice flowing run by Ganong out of bib 2 to take the early lead and ends up top American in 7th.
The Americans show their depth and affinity for the Italian Dolomites with five racers in the points including two in the top 10. Notable are Jared Goldberg (9th) with his first top 10 in two years and Sam "the moose" Morse (15th) who continues his success from yesterday.
Jack Crawford continues to build on Olympic success with a 5th today. After grabbing his first podium in Beaver Creek you can see the confidence is there.
After winning on Thursday, Vincent Kriechmayr finishes out of the points today in 32nd.
It was a forgettable day for the ÖSV. You have to go all the way down to 12th to find the top Austrian.
Racing the full course is important, Thursday we had an abbreviated race from the SG start. Today Odermatt lost the race on the upper gliding section. After highlighting Odermatt's streak of 12 straight podiums, it came to an end today.
Paris is still unable to crack the code. He's visibly frustrated in the finish. Nearly had to turn them sideways to stay in the course at the entry to the chiaslat. Same with Feuz, horses for courses.
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