Reichelt misses gate but happy with training run

After last year’s cancellation due to mild temperatures and lack of snow, this year Garmisch is back on track with two weekends packed with World Cup racing. First up are the men’s races with Thursday’s training marking the first test on the Kandahar slope after the one year forced break.

Austrian Hannes Reichelt clocked the fastest time of the day but missed a gate in the process, something skiers seem to do regularly when testing out a course for the first time. The fastest skiers to make it across the finish with a proper line were Kjetil Jansrud and Andreas Sander who tied with a time of 1:59.64.

However, Reichelt liked his run today, and considering the great form he’s been showcasing lately, the Austrian has his eye on a 10th World Cup victory this weekend.

“It’s a nice slope,” said Reichelt after his run. “Some sections are icy and some aggressive but it’s really nice to ski. The course setting is a bit easier than last weekend, it’s not as turny and the jumps are also the perfect size. I don’t want to call it relaxing as I think it might get bumpy after the training runs, but it definitely has less air time than in Saalbach and my back is grateful to Hannes (Trinkl) for it.”

This is an important weekend for Jansrud who is currently 145 points ahead of Dominik Paris in the discipline standings. Should things go well for the Norwegian on Saturday, he could lock down the downhill title, as a 200-point lead coming out of the weekend would be enough to do so. With three speed and one tech race scheduled in the upcoming weekends, this is the last chance for Jansrud to make up the 116-point lead enjoyed by Marcel Hirscher in the overall chase.

One more training run is scheduled for Friday before the real action kicks in over the weekend, staring with the downhill Saturday and a GS on Sunday.

Release courtesy of FIS

Results