Kriechmayr wins downhill of men’s World Cup Finals

Kriechayr. Soldeu. GEPA pictures.

SOLDEU, Andorra – All season long, downhill has been the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde show. If it wasn’t him winning, it was Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr. True to form, Kriechmayr won the final downhill race of the season, representing his fourth victory of the season.

Kriechmayr’s 16th career World Cup race win was his ninth in downhill. The 31-year-old Austrian also took gold at the 2021 world championships.

Kilde, who already retained the season-long World Cup downhill title with six race wins in the discipline, finished 0.30 behind in a tie for sixth.

The powerful German speed team has struggled all season, but they ended the 2022-23 downhill season with a double podium. Former Austrian now German Romed Bauman and his teammate Andreas Sanders finished the day second and third, earning their first downhill podiums of the year. Sanders made a super-G podium in Aspen on March 5th.

Canadians James Crawford and Cameron Alexander have had outstanding seasons and skied well. In the final downhill, they both finished in the top 15, scoring World Cup points.

Marco Odermatt, who succeeded Kriechmayr as world champion last month, placed 15th Wednesday. The Swiss star already sealed his second straight overall World Cup title.

Kilde will finish runner-up in the overall standings when the season ends Sunday.

Stifel US Alpine Team misses the points

Due to the minimal field size, only the fastest 15 at the finals score points. None of the US athletes could do so.

The first North American man to race was Stifel US Alpine Team member bib five Ryan Cochran-Siegle. He has had a season that has revealed room for improvement; this race was another example. He ended the day (+1.40) in 17th place. Cochran-Siegle is an excellent skier and a determined athlete who is expected to return to top form next season. After showing great speed this season, his teammate Jared Goldberg finishes the last downhill in 18th (+1.44).

Travis Ganong raced in the final World Cup of his career. While crossing well off the podium, he expressed his joy with a big smile. He will now start his life without the challenge of the Alpine World Cup. Ganong fulfilled a lifelong dream this season by finishing on the Kitzbüehl podium in January.

I’m really happy to just have one last run where I put myself in that mindset to like be in the zone, push hard, take some risk, fully just turn my brain off and go. I’ll never have that moment again, so it was just fun to do it one last time,” said Ganong. “As soon as I made the last couple gates, I just started smiling and relaxing. It was so fun.”

Also racing his final World Cup downhill was France’s Johan Clarey. Clarey has had a tremendous career and a great year, but 42 year old has decided to end his time as an elite alpine racer. In his final season, he earned two podiums, including a second place in Kitzbühel.

The sun was shining, but the wind was high. The weather cooperated and provided a hard frozen surface. Although the Aliga race slope is not tricky, it offered a reasonably fast surface.

Results of the March 15th World Cup finals downhill and Analysis of the fastest three and North Americans

Analysis of the fastest three and North Americans

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This is a developing story, stay tuned for updates.