In the first of two downhill training runs in Kvitfjell, Norway, Hannes Reichelt continued his late-season charge, crossing the finish line with a time of 1 minute, 50.57 seconds, more than a half-second quicker than the rest of the field.

“Right now I am finding my momentum, similar to what Jansrud had at the beginning of the season,” Reichelt said. “So for me, there is only one thing: Go full speed and we’ll see if a shot at the downhill World Cup title is still possible for me.”

Only three skiers managed to finish within a second of Reichelt: Werner Heel (+0.63), Guillermo Fayed (+0.68) and American Steven Nyman (+0.87). Local favorite Kjetil Jansrud seemed to have taken it easy in the first training finishing seventh, 1.18 seconds behind Reichelt.

For Jansrud, there likely have never been a series of races on home snow more important than the ones to come this weekend. The Norwegian is leading the downhill standings with 84 points ahead of Reichelt and, if everything goes smoothly, he could secure his first career discipline title. It’s certainly also Jansrud’s last chance at narrowing the gap between himself and Marcel Hirscher in the overall. The Austrian currently holds a 188-point lead over the Norwegian heading into the final three weeks of racing.

The first women’s downhill training run in Garmisch-Partenkirchen was canceled due to the need to perform more course work following a recent storm. The ladies will get their first crack at the downhill on Friday.

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