Klaus Kroell made the fastest dash to the finish to claim victory at Kvitfjell, Norway, on the Olympiabakken course for the second day of downhill competition through unfavourable conditions, with a time of 1:32.12.

Kroell finished the previous days downhill in 13th, but made a run for the lead of the discipline standings with the victory, now moving through the rankings to second with 395 points ahead of the downhill final set to take place in Are, Sweden. The result was also his best ever finish at the venue.

Michael Walchhofer finished second with a run of 1:32.39, just 27/100 aback. The Austrian, who had also finished second in the previous days downhill, couldn't match Kroell's time through the varying conditions. Walchhofer still maintains his lead in the downhill standings with 470 points.

Manuel Osborne-Paradis continued his good form with a third place finish, his second podium in two days, with a time of 1:32.58, 46/100 behind. The Canadian was unable to repeat his performance from the previous day, but managed to stay on the podium and continue his sensational form ahead of the finals.

Hans Olsson was the man to beat early on with a time of 1:32.67. The Swedish skier finished the day in fourth but was the pace setter at the start as he was the fastest in the final section of the piste, which most skiers found difficult to master. This concludes Olsson’s best finish at the venue as well as his second best finish for the season in the discipline after taking third in Lake Louise, Canada.

Didier Defago entered the race ranked second in the downhill standings but, with a time of 1:33.12 and an 11th place finish, he plummeted to third heading into the finals in Are where the last downhill will take place but is sadly out of contention for the Globe with 363 points, more than 100 points down. Both technical specialists Benjamin Raich and Ivica Kostelic who are in a deadlock for the lead of the overall World Cup standings with 837 points apiece once again took part in the day's race. Raich skied out through the mid section of the course and Kostelic finished with a time of 1:34.85 in 43rd place out of the points, as a result no change in the standings.

Aksel Lund Svindal who earned a podium finish in Friday's downhill completed his run of 1:33.40 in 14th place. The native Norwegian struggled on the day but narrowed the gap on the overall standings. Svindal moved into third place on Friday ahead of Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Grange and finished in the points for Saturdays downhill reaching 829 points in the overall rankings. The 2007 World Cup Champion is now just 8 points behind Raich and Kostelic.

Due to bad weather the race jury decided the start gate had to be lowered for the safety of the racers. Visibility was in and out throughout the race with fog.

The men will face one more race, a super-G on Sunday, before heading to the finals next week.

Saturday, 07 March 2009 11:59
fisalpineworldcup.com