Attacking Vikings peak for Pyeongchang Olympics

PERTH: Norway´s self-styled ´Attacking Vikings´ will head to next month´s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang full of confidence after peaking on the World Cup circuit at just the right time.

Leader of the group remains Aksel Lund Svindal, who although approaching the twilight of his career, can never be written off in any speed event. Partnering him will be Kjetil Jansrud, while slalom specialist Henrik Kristoffersen offers a real threat in the technical disciplines. Kitzbuehel proved a happy hunting ground for the trio, Svindal winning Friday´s super-G ahead of Jansrud, while Kristoffersen claimed the slalom title.

Up and coming Aleksander Aamodt Kilde came in 12th and 18th in the super-G and downhill. After 25 of 39 races this season, Austrian Marcel Hirscher tops the overall World Cup table followed by Kristoffersen, Svindal and Jansrud. “God damnit! #attackingvikings on fire,” was Jansrud´s reaction after the 1-2 in the super-G.

Svindal won three Olympic medals (one of each colour) at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and is an eight-time world championship medallist, five of them gold. But his best in Sochi was a fourth, seventh and eighth as he failed to medal. The 35-year-old was left disappointed by his eighth place in the downhill in Kitzbuehel, on the same demanding course that saw him suffer a season-ending injury in 2016. “Some days are great, and sometimes you disappoint yourself a little bit,” lamented Svindal after the downhill, the most prestigious on the World Cup circuit and won this year by unheralded German Thomas Dressen.