Austria: Canada´s James Crawford scorched to a maiden World Cup victory in the prestigious Kitzbuehel downhill on Saturday in a race thankfully spared the spate of serious crashes that marred the super-G.
Crawford, with just four podium places to his name in seven seasons on the circuit, laid down a near-perfect run to clock 1min 53.64sec on the challenging 3.3km-long Streif course on the Hahnenkamm mountain overlooking the upmarket Austrian resort.
Switzerland´s Alexis Monney took second, at 0.08sec, with another Canadian, Cameron Alexander, rounding out the podium a further 0.14sec adrift.
“It´s amazing. I don´t really have many words that can describe the feeling,” said a shell-shocked Crawford, a surprise winner of world super-G gold in Courchevel in 2023 and Olympic combined bronze medallist in Beijing the year previously.
“Winning the world championships was a surreal feeling, but I still had a feeling that I haven´t won on the World Cup.
“It´s been a dream of mine to win the classics, and for the first one to be in Kitzbuehel in the downhill is incredible.
“Right now I´m still a little bit in shock. Maybe tonight when I lift the Kitzbuehel trophy above my head it will feel totally real.”
Crawford, who said his emotions were “scattered”, added: “Alexander and I go back and forth in training, to see him pushing that way at the top fired me up a bit, I thought ´okay I know I can beat this guy, so let´s bring it today´.”
Crawford´s victory is Canada´s first in the Kitzbuehel downhill since Todd Brooker in 1983, following back-to-back wins by fellow ´Crazy Canucks´ Steve Poborski and Ken Read in the 1980-82 seasons.
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Amazing stuff, supreme excellence!” boomed the slopeside commentator of Crawford´s run in front of tens of thousands of baying ski fans in warm, sunny conditions.
“Canadian cowboys! Oh my word, incredible run by Crawford, he´s the man to beat!”
Crawford held on to bag 100,000 euros ($104,800) for his victory and set himself up nicely ahead of the February 4-16 world championships in Saalbach.
In-form Swiss racer Marco Odermatt, who tops the overall and downhill standings, won Friday´s super-G, but could only finish sixth in the blue riband event, at 0.55sec, as just eight-tenths of a second separated the top 13 racers.
“Last year I was annoyed with second place,” said Odermatt. “Today, I crossed the finish line four tenths behind Alexis and it was perfect. Strangely enough, I wasn´t annoyed today.
“I didn´t get everything right. In such a tight race, the decisive km/h are missing.”
Starting with bib number 20, Crawford hit motorway-coasting speeds of 140km/h, negotiating sections that have an 85-percent gradient and 80-metre jumps, all the while battling crippling centrifugal forces.
The icy course, which has a stomach-churning vertiginous start that propels racers to 100km/h in five seconds, features falls, snakes and rolls through a wide variety of terrain.