Feuz Takes Win In Both Kitzbuhel DHs

It took Beat Feuz 11 starts to earn his first downhill victory in Kitzbühel, now the Swiss is unstoppable as he earned his second consecutive victory on the Streif this weekend.

It was a marathon first race that took nearly three hours to get 30 racers down the mountain. After the top-30 were down, the race was called off, leaving the remaining 25 racers without a start.

Feuz earned the win over Austrian Matthias Mayer, who finished 0.16 seconds behind. The duo has often been neck-in-neck for the victory in Kitzbühel, but this time it was Feuz who came out on top.

It was a wild ride for Feuz, who raced his way down the course on the limit. With the early bib #5, it was unclear, despite his fast pace, if the time would endure through the rest of the field. Feuz had to sweat through the next few racers as Mayer fell just short with bib #9 and eventual third-place finisher Dominik Paris finished a half second off the pace two skiers later.

The momentum was broken when American Ryan Cochran Siegle suffered a crash just before the traverse, causing a lengthy delay. The American was on two feet after the crash, but was still airlifted from the course. Four racers later Feuz’s teammate Urs Kryenbuehl suffered a serious crash on the finishing jump and was also airlifted from the course.

A team representative from Swiss Ski said Kryenbuehl was conscious and speaking before he was evacuated.

Unfortunately, Olympian Ryan Cochran-Siegle sustained a minor cervical spine (neck) fracture. He is otherwise OK, thankfully. That said, he will sit out the remainder of the weekend and his return is TBD.

Cochran Siegle—who had won the first training run and has been the top American downhiller all season long with multiple podiums in super-Gs and downhills (and was ranked third in the downhill standings heading into the weekend)—ended up on his tails below the Hausbergkante jump, went down on his hip on the traverse, and went through the netting. He was up and walking around after the crash and was taken to the hospital for further evaluation. He had fast splits up top and was in the lead for a good portion of the race prior to his fall.

It may not seem possible, but 2021 was only Cochran-Siegle’s second year on the Streif. Last year, he DNFed (but was OK). He has yet to make it to the finish line at the Streif and will have to be reunited next year, as he will sit out the remainder of the weekend.

After the two delays, the weather started to turn for the worse with a southerly wind creating dangerous conditions and creating further delays. In the end, once the top-30 racers were down the hill, everyone was happy breathe a sigh of relief as the Strief flexed its mighty muscles today.

In the second race Feuz himself was not certain that his run, coming wearing bib #9, would hold up through the rest of the field. His racing on the bottom part of the course was flawless, but on the upper half he was off the winning pace.

The race got off with only a short delay to see Beat Feuz of Switzerland take his second win of the weekend. He joined a small crew of men that have won two Hahnenkamm downhills on the same weekend—Frenchman Luc Alphand last accomplished the feat in 1995. At 40-years-old (the oldest World Cup podium finisher), Johan Clarey of France was second, and Matthias Mayer third.

Feuz’s tensest moment came, once again, at the hand of Matthias Mayer (AUT), as the two continue their excellent rivalry in Kitzbühel. Mayer was close at every interval, but in the end fell short of finishing in green by 0.38 seconds, good for third place.

Also pulling off a surprisingly strong finish was Italian Christof Innerhofer, who came in fourth, earning his best downhill finish since 2019, which also was a fourth place finish in Kitzbühel.

It was a round number day for Feuz, who earnd his 50th World Cup podium and his 15th victory. He also joined a very elite club of men to win two Kitzbühel races in the same weekend. The last time the feat was accomplished was 26 years ago by Luc Alphand (FRA).

Conditions were a far cry from Friday’s marathon race, which took nearly three hours. It looks early on that fog at the top of the hill could spoil the day, but after a five-minute pause, the fog cleared allowing for ideal conditions.

Ganong was once again the top American man in Kitzbuehel, having scored 11th place in Friday’s downhill and 12th on Sunday. He was happy with the result but had a small mistake that kept him from finishing higher in the ranks. “It was super dark today, so that was very difficult,” said Ganong. “I had a really good run going and then on the bottom on the traverse—I’ve been nailing that every day—I went in and pushed into the compression and didn’t see the compression or the takeoff or the landing on the Hausbergkante and I had a little mistake there... Super close to having a really good day, but I’m still happy with my results. Two solid results down the Streif and I’m looking forward to super-G.”