Reichelt wins 12th career World Cup in Garmisch
In the final downhill race before World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Austrian speedster Hannes Reichelt found the fall line and won the 12th World Cup race of his career with a final time of 1:53.83. He was chased down the Kandahar slope by Italian Peter Fill in second, 0.16 seconds off the pace, and Beat Feuz of Switzerland in third, 0.52 seconds away from the win.
Saturday marked the second downhill of the series at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany. After the challenging day of racing on Friday, the men knew the course was nothing to be trifled with. Arguably, no one was hungrier to improve than Reichelt, who finished in fourth place on day one, just 0.07 seconds off of the podium. He took that motivation and turned it into a victory on a slope where he also won in 2015.
“Yesterday we were surprised by the high speed, but today we knew it would be even faster,” the Austrian shared. “The only question mark was on the Kramer jump, but after inspection I could see that they worked on it, and I had a good feeling.”
Reichelt is the first man to win a World Cup downhill with bib one since Italian Christof Innerhofer did so in Bormio in Dec. 2008. He said that he picked bib number one for a strategic reason.
“The run is pretty tough and spectacular, so I picked number one because I prefer not to see the others going down before me,” he said. “The course also gets bumpier with every racer, so I would have picked an early number anyway.”
Behind him was Fill. Despite not taking the win, it was a great day for the Italian, who took the lead in the downhill standings thanks to his second-place result. His 279-point total puts him 32 points ahead of Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud.
“I feel really good,” Fill shared. “My skiing is really nice. It’s all easy, and I’m fast. Now, we go to the World Championships. I’m in a good shape, and I hope to go fast also there.”
Feuz made his return to the World Cup downhill podium for the first time since winning in St. Moritz last March, coming in third. The Swiss athlete will be one to watch for the World Championship race early next month as he competes in front of a home crowd.
It was a strong day for the American Downhillers, though not quite as spectacular as Friday. The U.S. men’s speed squad seems to thrive on courses like this with minimal light, similar to the track in Santa Caterina, Italy. Travis Ganong led the team with a 12th-place result, 1.31 seconds off of the winning pace. Bryce Bennett was 10 spots back in 22nd position. Jared Goldberg, Thomas Biesemeyer and Andrew Weibrecht were within 0.04 seconds of each other, finishing in 26th, 27th and 28th, respectively.
Their teammate Steven Nyman took a hard fall on the first day of racing, suffering a knee injury and a few cuts to his face, which has sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Frenchmen Valentin Giraud-Moine and Guillermo Fayed were also injured on day one of the downhill. Giraud-Moine dislocated both knees while Fayed suffered from a bone bruise of the right tibial plateau.
Men’s World Cup racing continues on Sunday with a giant slalom.
Top 10
1. Hannes Reichelt (AUT) – Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
2. Peter Fill (ITA) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
3. Beat Feuz (SUI) – Head / Head / Head
4. Dominik Paris (ITA) – Head / Head / Head
5. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR) – Head / Head / Head
6. Bostjan Kline (SLO) Stoeckli / Head / Tyrolia
7. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
8. Adrien Theaux (FRA) – Head / Head / Head
9. Roger Brice (FRA) – Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
10. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
10. Rommed Baumann (AUT) Salomon / Salomon / Salomon
Official Results
| Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Total Time | Diff. | FIS Points | WC Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 50742 | REICHELT Hannes | 1980 | AUT | 1:53.83 | 0.00 | 100.00 | ||
| 2 | 9 | 292455 | FILL Peter | 1982 | ITA | 1:53.99 | +0.16 | 1.76 | 80.00 | |
| 3 | 13 | 511383 | FEUZ Beat | 1987 | SUI | 1:54.35 | +0.52 | 5.71 | 60.00 | |
| 4 | 5 | 291459 | PARIS Dominik | 1989 | ITA | 1:54.59 | +0.76 | 8.35 | 50.00 | |
| 5 | 7 | 421483 | JANSRUD Kjetil | 1985 | NOR | 1:54.64 | +0.81 | 8.89 | 45.00 | |
| 6 | 2 | 561216 | KLINE Bostjan | 1991 | SLO | 1:54.75 | +0.92 | 10.10 | 40.00 | |
| 7 | 16 | 53980 | KRIECHMAYR Vincent | 1991 | AUT | 1:54.82 | +0.99 | 10.87 | 36.00 | |
| 8 | 3 | 192746 | THEAUX Adrien | 1984 | FRA | 1:54.87 | +1.04 | 11.42 | 32.00 | |
| 9 | 31 | 194190 | ROGER Brice | 1990 | FRA | 1:55.01 | +1.18 | 12.96 | 29.00 | |
| 10 | 18 | 422139 | KILDE Aleksander Aamodt | 1992 | NOR | 1:55.11 | +1.28 | 14.06 | 26.00 | |
| 10 | 12 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | 1:55.11 | +1.28 | 14.06 | 26.00 | |
| 12 | 11 | 530874 | GANONG Travis | 1988 | USA | 1:55.14 | +1.31 | 14.39 | 22.00 | |
| 13 | 14 | 511139 | KUENG Patrick | 1984 | SUI | 1:55.23 | +1.40 | 15.37 | 20.00 | |
| 14 | 6 | 53902 | MAYER Matthias | 1990 | AUT | 1:55.25 | +1.42 | 15.59 | 18.00 | |
| 15 | 24 | 200379 | SANDER Andreas | 1989 | GER | 1:55.27 | +1.44 | 15.81 | 16.00 | |
| 16 | 38 | 511513 | CAVIEZEL Mauro | 1988 | SUI | 1:55.40 | +1.57 | 17.24 | 15.00 | |
| 16 | 36 | 54009 | WALDER Christian | 1991 | AUT | 1:55.40 | +1.57 | 17.24 | 15.00 | |
| 18 | 21 | 194167 | MUZATON Maxence | 1990 | FRA | 1:55.44 | +1.61 | 17.68 | 13.00 | |
| 18 | 8 | 53817 | FRANZ Max | 1989 | AUT | 1:55.44 | +1.61 | 17.68 | 13.00 | |
| 20 | 4 | 50753 | KROELL Klaus | 1980 | AUT | 1:55.63 | +1.80 | 19.77 | 11.00 | |
| 21 | 41 | 512042 | KRYENBUEHL Urs | 1994 | SUI | 1:55.64 | +1.81 | 19.88 | 10.00 | |
| 22 | 25 | 6530104 | BENNETT Bryce | 1992 | USA | 1:55.65 | +1.82 | 19.99 | 9.00 | |
| 23 | 15 | 511313 | JANKA Carlo | 1986 | SUI | 1:55.75 | +1.92 | 21.08 | 8.00 | |
| 24 | 40 | 512124 | HINTERMANN Niels | 1995 | SUI | 1:55.79 | +1.96 | 21.52 | 7.00 | |
| 25 | 29 | 194298 | GIEZENDANNER Blaise | 1991 | FRA | 1:55.83 | +2.00 | 21.96 | 6.00 | |
| 26 | 49 | 934643 | GOLDBERG Jared | 1991 | USA | 1:55.85 | +2.02 | 22.18 | 5.00 | |
| 27 | 44 | 531452 | BIESEMEYER Thomas | 1989 | USA | 1:55.86 | +2.03 | 22.29 | 4.00 | |
| 28 | 28 | 530939 | WEIBRECHT Andrew | 1986 | USA | 1:55.89 | +2.06 | 22.62 | 3.00 | |
| 28 | 20 | 102899 | OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel | 1984 | CAN | 1:55.89 | +2.06 | 22.62 | 3.00 | |
| 30 | 19 | 191740 | CLAREY Johan | 1981 | FRA | 1:55.91 | +2.08 | 22.84 | 1.00 | |
| 31 | 30 | 202059 | FERSTL Josef | 1988 | GER | 1:55.99 | +2.16 | 23.72 | ||
| 32 | 47 | 202535 | DRESSEN Thomas | 1993 | GER | 1:56.22 | +2.39 | 26.25 | ||
| 33 | 35 | 194368 | RAFFORT Nicolas | 1991 | FRA | 1:56.28 | +2.45 | 26.90 | ||
| 34 | 26 | 990081 | CASSE Mattia | 1990 | ITA | 1:56.36 | +2.53 | 27.78 | ||
| 35 | 32 | 6290985 | BUZZI Emanuele | 1994 | ITA | 1:56.59 | +2.76 | 30.31 | ||
| 36 | 23 | 103271 | THOMSEN Benjamin | 1987 | CAN | 1:56.60 | +2.77 | 30.42 | ||
| 37 | 33 | 511981 | WEBER Ralph | 1993 | SUI | 1:56.76 | +2.93 | 32.18 | ||
| 38 | 39 | 561217 | KOSI Klemen | 1991 | SLO | 1:56.82 | +2.99 | 32.83 | ||
| 39 | 50 | 202345 | SCHWAIGER Dominik | 1991 | GER | 1:56.86 | +3.03 | 33.27 | ||
| 40 | 48 | 104096 | THOMPSON Broderick | 1994 | CAN | 1:57.27 | +3.44 | 37.78 | ||
| 41 | 42 | 561067 | PERKO Rok | 1985 | SLO | 1:58.16 | +4.33 | 47.55 | ||
| 42 | 46 | 102271 | HUDEC Jan | 1981 | CZE | 1:59.05 | +5.22 | 57.32 | ||
| Did not start 1st run | ||||||||||
| 52 | 460071 | ACHIRILOAIE Ioan Valeriu | 1990 | ROU | ||||||
| 17 | 102263 | GUAY Erik | 1981 | CAN | ||||||
| Did not finish 1st run | ||||||||||
| 51 | 6291625 | SCHIEDER Florian | 1995 | ITA | ||||||
| 45 | 561255 | CATER Martin | 1992 | SLO | ||||||
| 43 | 294904 | PANGRAZZI Paolo | 1988 | ITA | ||||||
| 37 | 103512 | FRISCH Jeffrey | 1984 | CAN | ||||||
| 34 | 53968 | BERTHOLD Frederic | 1991 | AUT | ||||||
| 27 | 54005 | STRIEDINGER Otmar | 1991 | AUT | ||||||
| 22 | 511847 | MANI Nils | 1992 | SUI | ||||||
| 10 | 191964 | POISSON David | 1982 | FRA | ||||||
About the Author: Gabbi Hall
