The leader of the World Cup downhill standings, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, injured his right hand during today’s official downhill training in Kitzbühel, Austria.

“I came into the carousel after Mausefalle and leaned onto my hand, and then I hit a hole,” Aamodt Kilde explained during a media gathering at the Norwegian team’s hotel in Kitzbühel late Thursday afternoon, according to the Norwegian news agency NTB. Kilde said he felt a sting in his hand as it happened and that there was a pounding sensation in the hand when he had completed the training run.

Small fracture

NTB reports that Aamodt Kilde’s hand was quickly bandaged before he hurried through the media zone without stopping for interviews. He headed off to a medical examination, which revealed that he had suffered a minor fracture at the base of his middle finger.

“It turns out that there is a small fracture at the very bottom, almost down by the wrist, but it is very small,” Aamodt Kilde said at the press briefing for Norwegian media Thursday. “There is a bit of pain, but we will tape a bit and make sure I have stability, and then we will take it from there,” he explained.

Will race

Aamodt Kilde will still start in both downhill races down the Hahnenkamm mountain this Friday and Saturday.

“I was lucky. It wasn’t as bad as I first feared,” Aamodt Kilde told NTB, and continued: “It is not so bad that it will interfere with the plan we have laid out. I have to try to keep my hands above the snow and take it all the way to the finish.”

Steep start

“Die Streif,” the legendary downhill course in Kitzbühel, starts very steep and pushing hard out of the start is not as critical as on a course with a flatter start.

Aamodt Kilde gained great speed by pushing and skating very hard from the start and during the first, flatter part of the Wengen course last weekend when he won both the super-G and downhill World Cup races. His hand still has a few weeks to heal before the World Championships take place in early February.

Positive

The Norwegian downhill star is still positive before his Kitzbühel start: “With adrenalin and a little bit of painkillers, I believe we will be in the right place,” he told NTB Thursday.

Aamodt Kilde has won four World Cup downhill competitions so far this season. Last season, he also won one of the two World Cup downhill races in Kitzbühel.

As always, Aamodt Kilde’s parents, other close family members, and friends will cheer him on in Kitzbühel this weekend. Maybe he will be able to treat them to another double-victory show.

There have been some discussions over the past years regarding the traditional course down the Hahnenkamm and whether FIS should or should not make changes. FIS Race Director Hannes Trinkl has explained changes and reasonings to Ski Racing Media. The current and future state of World Cup downhill – Part I

Sources: NTB, VG, Viaplay.