Vincent Kriechmayr wins the last Downhill of the season in the Àliga racecourse in Soldeu El Tarter. In a race of narrow margins, the Top-10 were within half a second, the double world champion of 2021 laid his victory in a sensational finish to claim today's victory. He beats German Romed Baumann by 0.09 seconds. Andreas Sander finished in third place +0.13 seconds behind.
Kriechmayr is the only man besides Aleksander Aamodt Kilde to win a World Cup Downhill this season. Previously the 31-year-old Austrian had won in Val Gardena (15 December), Bormio (28 December) and Kitzbühel (20 January).
For Kriechmayr it's his 16th victory in the World Cup (32nd podium), the ninth in the Downhill.
The last Austrian skier to win at least four World Cup Downhill races in a single season was Renate Götschl in 2006/07 (4). Stephan Eberharter was the last man from Austria to win four Downhills in a single season in 2003-2004.
The winner of all the European Downhill Classics -Val Gardena-Gröden, Bormio, Wengen (twice) and Kitzbühel, is an specialist in winning at the Final Races of the season. Six of his World Cup victories have come in races held in the Finals. In Are 2018 he won the Downhill and the Super-G, in Saalbach 2021 he won the Downhill, in Courchevel-Méribel 2022 he achieved again the double -Downhill and Super-G-, and today he won the last Downhill.
"It was not so easy, it was more bumpy than yesterday. I tried my best, I was pushing from the first gate to the finish. It is a short Downhil. I’m happy with my skiing, it was a good race. It feels good to be on the podium again. This is my best season so far in Downhill, and I will work hard in the summer to close the gap with Odermatt and Kilde. They are always super strong, fantastic skiers, but I will keep pushing", said Kriechmayr.
With bib number 1 Romed Baumann lay down an impressive run in the Àliga track to achieved his first Downhill podium since 2015.
German teammate Andreas Sander rounded out the podium. The last time two German skiers were on the podium in a World Cup Downhill was in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1992 when double Olympic champion Markus Wasmeier won the race and Hans-Jörg Tauscher finished third.
"The starting number was certainly an advantage, but you have to use it first. We had no information about the track, it was a lot faster than in training. I had a very good run up to the finish line. It's a dream result to be on the podium with Andreas", Baumann said.
Andreas Sander rounded out the podium achieving his second World Cup Top-3 after finishing in second place in the Super-G at Aspen.
"I'm over the moon with my second podium. And what makes it even better is the fact that I'm up there with my teammate. It's good for the whole team. It was not easy. I was expecting a close race and it was. I was really pushing hard. It was not perfect, but everyone did mistakes", Sander said.
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde grabs the Downhill Crystal Globe. Kilde had already clinched this season's Downhill title in Aspen. He also won the discipline Globe in 2021-2022.
Kilde and Aksel Lund Svindal are the only Norwegian skiers to win the Downhill crystal globes more than once. Svindal won it in 2012-2013, and 2013-2014.
The 30-year-old Attacking Viking won six of the nine Men's World Cup Downhill races in the 2022-2023 season. He is the first man to have won six World Cup Downhill events in a single season since Stephan Eberharter in 2002-2003 (6). The only skiers to win more than six World Cup Downhill events in a single season were Annemarie Moser-Pröll (8 in 1972-1973), and Franz Klammer (8 in 1974-1975).
Marco Odermatt finished today in 15th place, his second-worst result this season. In the Overall World Cup, the Swiss currently has 1,842 points. Odermatt needs a win and a third place or two second places in the Super-G and in the Giant Slalom in order to be able to break the 2000 points record set by Hermann Maier in the 1999-2000 winter season.
Today's Downhill was the last race for Johan Clarey. The 42-year-old Frenchman, silver medalist in Beijing 2022 in the Downhill and in the Super-G in 2019 at the World Championships in Are, has finished on the World Cup podium eleven times in his career. This season, he finished second in Val Gardena and Kitzbühel. However, the Frenchman was denied a victory in 240 World Cup starts.
Also racing his final World Cup Downhill was Travis Ganong. The 34-year-old silver medalist in the Downhill in 2015 at the World Championships in Vail-Beaver Creek has won two Downhills in the World Cup, in 2014 in Santa Caterina, and in 2017 in Garmisch Partenkirchen. He finished on the podium six times, the last one this season when he was third in the Downhill in Kitzbühel.