Paris wins in Kvitfjell as Kilde extends lead in downhill standings

KVITFJELL, Norway — Dominik Paris dominated the penultimate men’s World Cup downhill of the season Saturday to keep his slim chance alive of winning the discipline title.

The Italian skier mastered the Olympiabakken course to beat home crowd favorite Alexander Aamodt Kilde by 0.55 seconds.

The result left four racers in with a shot at the crystal globe at the season-ending race in France on March 16: Paris and Kilde, as well as Switzerland’s Beat Feuz and Austria’s Matthias Mayer.

Paris, who was also the fastest in Thursday’s final training, became the first skier to win the downhill in Kvitfjell more than twice, following his earlier victories in 2016 and 2019.

“I didn’t know that, it’s nice. But I’m just super happy that I was skiing fast today, really fast,” he said.

Kilde missed out on a fourth downhill win this season, but was happy to settle for second.

“Dominik Paris was knocking out everybody today,” the Norwegian said.

The runner-up finish helped Kilde stretch his lead in the downhill standings to 23 points from Olympic champion Feuz. Mayer trails by 84 points in third, Paris is 88 behind in fourth.

Feuz shared third in Saturday’s race with Swiss teammate Niels Hintermann. They trailed Paris by 0.81 seconds, a day after Hintermann had won a downhill on the same course.

Paris, who earlier this season won his home race in Bormio, has only an outside chance to win the globe when the downhill season ends in Courchevel.

“Alex and Beat, they are always in front. For me, I think, it’s over,” Paris said.

It would be Kilde’s first downhill title after Feuz won the crystal globe in the past four seasons.

Olympic silver-medalist Ryan Cochran-Siegle once again led the U.S. men, finishing fifth in the Kvitfjell downhill on Saturday, March 5, behind Switzerland’s Niels Hintermann and Beat Feuz, who tied for third. Travis Ganong punched a top 10 finish, tying for eighth with France’s Maxence Muzaton.

“It’s a challenging hill where every turn matters, so to do well here means you have to contend from top to bottom,” commented Cochran-Siegle. “After yesterday, I felt I skied well but recognized there was still a lot missing to be where I know I can be. It was motivating to see the guys in the back ski so fast yesterday in fair conditions. Today I brought just a little bit more intensity with my skiing, aggressive touch on my skis, and fighting for aerodynamics, and it ended up being a solid day.”

Steven Nyman returned to the World Cup, finishing 23rd from bib 38, followed by Jared Goldberg tied for 24th with Norway’s Adrian Smiseth Sejersted.

“I thought the US showed some strong skiing with Travis in 8th and four of us in the top 25, but we also have to see the room to grow and be more competitive for the future,” said Cochran-Siegle. “We all are capable of more and we need to keep pushing ourselves as a team to get there.”

Overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt finished 1.75 off the lead in 13th, but still held a healthy 286-point lead over former champion Kilde.

Paris, who wore bib No. 9, had a gutsy run down the bumpy course, benefiting from good visibility for the first 10 starters before more clouds moved in.

The weather vastly differed from Friday’s downhill, when the sunny conditions throughout the race allowed late starters to challenge for a top finish and Canadian racer Cameron Alexander, who started 39th, shared the victory with Hintermann.

Alexander finished 16th in Saturday’s race.

Paris improved from his performance the previous day, when he only finished 10th.

“Yesterday, I didn’t take the right line to bring down the speed in the flats and I lost a lot of time there. Today, I tried to be more smooth on the skis and it was a really perfect run,” the Italian said.

It was Paris’ 21st career win and 17th in downhill, leaving him one short of Stephan Eberharter in third place of the World Cup downhill winners list, which is led by another Austrian great: Franz Klammer, with 25 wins.

Kjetil Jansrud competed in the 358th and final race of his career. A popular character on the Alpine skiing circuit for nearly two decades, Jansrud was celebrated in the finish area by skiers from many different nations.

Jansrud racked up 23 World Cup wins and has eight medals from major championships: five from three different Olympics, including super-G gold in 2014; and three from world championships, crowned with the downhill title in 2019.

Teammate Kilde said he had “so many memories” of traveling the circuit with Jansrud.

“Just being part of his journey and experiencing everything together for, like, the last 10 years has really been incredible,” Kilde said. ”He has been one of the best athletes in the world, but also a human being, an amazing person.”

His farewell from the sport came three years after the retirement of fellow Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal, who was attending the race.

The race weekend concludes with a super-G on Sunday.

RESULTS

The Associated Press, Alpine Canada and the US Ski Team press office contributed to this report.