Reichelt fastest in dark, bumpy training run at Santa Caterina

Austrian Hannes Reichelt managed to set the fastest time in the opening training run of downhill in Santa Caterina, Italy, on Sunday. The reigning super G world champion clocked a time of 1:48.20 seconds, a slim 0.07 seconds faster than Italian Christof Innerhofer in second. Innerhofer’s compatriot, Peter Fill, was third, a distant 1.23 seconds back.

A total of 33 racers out of the 70-man field failed to complete all of the gates, including third-place finisher Fill along with six of the top 10. To have so many starters fail to finish the course in its entirety indicates that the terrain-filled track, only in its second year of use on the men’s World Cup circuit, is a course that racers are still getting the feel of in comparison to the more established downhills on the circuit.

“The top section comes at you quickly right out of the gate. It’s tough to remember the top because because there are no trees or distinct features on the track,” noted U.S. Ski Team men’s assistant coach Scotty Veenis. “Today it was dark … flat light and fast with a lot of micro terrain and trail turns. The snow was grippy with lots of rattle.”

Several athletes took to social media later in the day to point out that a lack of any kind of light on the track, coupled with the terrain, significantly impacted their ability to navigate the course.

Well that was dark and bumpy!!!

— Steven Nyman (@Steven_Nyman) December 27, 2015

The top American finisher was Wiley Maple in 30th, 4.42 seconds back, although he also failed to complete all of the gates. Maple finished just ahead of Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal in 31st, who has won every World Cup downhill thus far and currently leads of the downhill standings.

I embraced the #darkside today. Yes, I ran the course shortly after this photo was taken.

Last year’s Santa Caterina winner, American Travis Ganong, was a distant six seconds back in 47th place.

“Now that we have one run down and know the speed and where we are going, it will be better tomorrow,” added Veenis. “Jedi powers will come on race day!”

The men have the second (and final) training run scheduled on Monday before racing gets underway on Tuesday.

Official Results