Hintermann Wins Kvitfjell DH, Bassino Wins In Crans Montana

Hintermann won his second downhill title at the same venue as his first. It has been been a men’s downhill season defined by injuries – most notably the dramatic crash of defending champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR), which ended his campaign – and another unfortunate incident would be the headline in Kvitfjell, Norway.

Ski fans had been salivating at the prospect of Marco Odermatt (SUI) going head to head with Cyprien Sarrazin (FRA) in the race for the downhill crystal globe – only six points separated the pair in the point standings ahead of this race, with two races to go.

But an injury in training meant that the Frenchman who won two downhills in January didn’t line up. The Swiss, meanwhile, does not generally perform well on this track, and struggled again, finishing fifth.

Niels Hintermann (SUI), however, loves this piste, which was created for the Lillehammer 1994 Olympic Winter Games. He won his only downhill title so far here in 2022 – and repeated the feat on Saturday with a brilliant run.

Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) got second place, +0.08 seconds behind, his first podium of the season, while Cameron Alexander (CAN) took third (+0.19 seconds).

Several racers struggled: Kvitfjell is a course where risks need to be taken, but it led to numerous mistakes. Dominik Paris (ITA), who has won four times here, looked quick on the top section of the track, but slid over partially mid-course and lost a second; Odermatt pushed a little too hard and made errors, and Nils Allegre (FRA) suffered a nasty crash, but mercifully skied back down the hill after a long delay.

Hintermann however looked like a man on a mission. He has twice podiumed before in Kvitfjell (a third and first place in 2022), and after a disappointing season by his standards, he found the right combination of smooth and committed.

“You could say this is my favourite course,” said Hintermann. “It is a lot of fun and they did an amazing job on it. The slope is tough but it’s good conditions. It’s really solid and fair.

“The run didn’t feel that good, I couldn’t keep the rhythm, it was a fight, I fought with my line and felt quite wide, but I fought it seriously, like a lion. But I was surprised when I saw the green light, because I didn’t think it was good enough.

“Last time [I won here] the run felt perfect, but I didn’t feel that today. Doubts arised, and my confidence wasn’t the highest, so I am really happy and proud of me, to have the feeling of having fun racing again.”

Kriechmayr also had the best performance of what has been a quiet season. He has podiumed every season of his career since 2017, and did not want to lose that record. The Austrian looked back to his composed best in Norway, finding great speed in the lower section of the run.

“My run was pretty good, I tried to ski smooth,” said Kriechmayr. "It was not a really difficult race but it is difficult to be fast, and I made a good run. I am skiing better than the last times. I had to make a run on the limits.”

He conceded that it had been a tough year for the Austrian racers. “The whole team tried its best but our skiing has not been that good,” he said. “The last races I was struggling. The other athletes are strong, of course. The whole team has better super G results than downhill results. We will get better next year.”

Alexander also had a flyer, finishing third. “It felt fast,” he said. “I got pushed around a little more than I thought I was going to, so I wasn’t sure at the finish line how the time would be.

“But I felt I was moving quick, which is usually a good thing, and it showed in the times. It feels good to be where I am now. There’s always ebbs and flows through the season. This is one of the most fun tracks to ski. It is an enjoyable ride.”

It was a rare off day for Odermatt, but he was not disappointed. Fifth place represented his best result on the Norwegian track to date. It has been something of a bogey piste: he had failed to finish in the top 10 in each of his six World Cup starts previously here.

“I’m very happy with my run, it is an improvement on the last years here, and the skiing was good,” said Odermatt. “There were one or two places where I could have skied a little bit more clean, but that’s OK.”

An Odermatt victory could have put the downhill globe out of site, but Sarrazin now has a month to recover and potentially get back in contention at the World Cup finals in Saalbach.

For the women, with all eyes on Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) and Italy's pre-race hopes seemingly dashed with the absence of Sofia Goggia (ITA), Marta Bassino (ITA) picked the perfect time to swoop in for her first World Cup downhill win.

The giant slalom specialist stunned the speed favourites on Saturday in the Swiss resort of Crans Montana, skiing a near-perfect run from bib No. 3 that saw her finish a full second ahead of all but one other starter.

Bassino became the seventh different winner from seven downhill races in this unpredictable season, finishing well ahead of teammate Federica Brignone (ITA, +0.54s), with Gut-Behrami (+1.11s) completing the podium.

"It's amazing," said Bassino, whose six previous World Cup wins came in giant slalom and whose only previous global speed triumph came in super-G at last year's world championships.

The 27-year-old was brilliant on the more technical sections at the top and bottom of the Mont-Lachaux piste, clocking the fastest time in sectors 1, 2, and 5 while holding her own during the gliding section in the middle of the course.

"I know I'm skiing good, and I just tried to be fast and to be a downhiller in the flat part," said Bassino, whose only previous World Cup downhill podium was a second place in Bansko over four years ago.

"I think I've done a great run, I've done all the things that we have seen and that we have analysed in video," she said.

"I was bib No.3 and I think that helped a bit because the snow became slower."

The question of whether her time would hold up when the top seeds took their turn was answered four skiers later when the in-form Gut-Behrami, winner of her last four races, finished over a second behind despite not making any major errors.

None of the remaining skiers could touch Bassino either, with Brignone coming closest a day after she threatened to win Friday's shortened downhill before making a big mistake with the finish line in sight and finishing sixth.

After falling behind early on Saturday, Brignone made up time over Bassino on the flats to pull within a quarter of a second, but she couldn't sustain that momentum on the lower turns.

Despite once again missing out on what would have been her first World Cup downhill victory, the 33-year-old was delighted with her seventh podium in the discipline.

"I was pushing, I was free, I was able to do my best skiing," Brignone said.

"The upper part didn't come perfectly, but I'm really happy about the rest. I didn't make the mistake I did yesterday so I'm really proud about it."

Brignone pushed Gut-Behrami into third as the Swiss star's winning streak came to an end, but she still picked up 60 points to take over the lead from the injured Goggia in the downhill standings.

Gut-Behrami also extended her overall lead to 165 points ahead of the absent Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) and is currently in line for a remarkable four globes, but the rigours of a long season are starting to take their toll on the 32-year-old.

"I'm just happy that I'm still solid and doing consistent skiing — it's not easy," Gut-Behrami said. "The energy level is pretty low so I have to find something for (the super-G race) tomorrow."

Gut-Behrami might have expended a little more energy just watching the end of Saturday's race, as unheralded Bosnia and Herzegovina skier Elvedina Muzaferija (BIH) almost took her podium spot with bib No.28.

Muzaferija missed the podium by 0.11 seconds but came fourth for not only her first World Cup top 10 finish, but also the best World Cup result in Bosnia and Herzegovina's Alpine skiing history.

"I felt very comfortable and confident the last couple of weeks," said Muzaferija, who won the European Cup downhill in Crans Montana just last Sunday.

"I've always been quite good on this slope, I like it," the 24-year-old said. "Last year was not so love story — I finished in the nets — but this year it's fine."

Muzaferija, who hadn't finished higher than 14th in a World Cup race before Saturday, now has her sights set sky-high as she looks to the future.

"Everyone wants to win World Cups — that's the goal," she said.