- UAE names Uzbek suspects in Israeli rabbi's murder
- Indian author Ghosh wins top Dutch prize
- Real Madrid star Vinicius out of Liverpool clash with hamstring injury
- For Ceyda: A Turkish mum's fight for justice for murdered daughter
- Bestselling 'Woman of Substance' author Barbara Taylor Bradford dies aged 91
- Equity markets mostly on front foot, as bitcoin rally stutters
- Ukraine drones hit Russian oil energy facility: Kyiv source
- UN chief slams landmine threat after US decision to supply Ukraine
- Maximum term demanded in French rape trial for husband who drugged wife
- Salah feels 'more out than in' with no new Liverpool deal on table
- Pro-Russia candidate leads Romanian polls, PM out of the race
- Taiwan fighter jets to escort winning baseball team home
- Le Pen threatens to topple French government over budget
- DHL cargo plane crashes in Lithuania, killing one
- Le Pen meets PM as French government wobbles
- From serious car crash to IPL record for 'remarkable' Pant
- Equity markets mostly on front foot, bitcoin rally stutters
- India crush Australia in first Test to silence critics
- Philippine VP Duterte 'mastermind' of assassination plot: justice department
- Asian markets mostly on front foot, bitcoin rally stutters
- India two wickets away from winning first Australia Test
- 39 foreigners flee Myanmar scam centre: Thai police
- As baboons become bolder, Cape Town battles for solutions
- Uruguay's Orsi: from the classroom to the presidency
- UN chief slams landmine threat days after US decision to supply Ukraine
- Sporting hope for life after Amorim in Arsenal Champions League clash
- Head defiant as India sense victory in first Australia Test
- Scholz's party to name him as top candidate for snap polls
- Donkeys offer Gazans lifeline amid war shortages
- Court moves to sentencing in French mass rape trial
- 'Existential challenge': plastic pollution treaty talks begin
- Cavs get 17th win as Celtics edge T-Wolves and Heat burn in OT
- Asian markets begin week on front foot, bitcoin rally stutters
- IOC chief hopeful Sebastian Coe: 'We run risk of losing women's sport'
- K-pop fans take aim at CD, merchandise waste
- Notre Dame inspired Americans' love and help after fire
- Court hearing as parent-killing Menendez brothers bid for freedom
- Closing arguments coming in US-Google antitrust trial on ad tech
- Galaxy hit Minnesota for six, Orlando end Atlanta run
- Left-wing candidate Orsi wins Uruguay presidential election
- High stakes as Bayern host PSG amid European wobbles
- Australia's most decorated Olympian McKeon retires from swimming
- Far-right candidate surprises in Romania elections, setting up run-off with PM
- Left-wing candidate Orsi projected to win Uruguay election
- UAE arrests three after Israeli rabbi killed
- Five days after Bruins firing, Montgomery named NHL Blues coach
- Orlando beat Atlanta in MLS playoffs to set up Red Bulls clash
- American McNealy takes first PGA title with closing birdie
- Sampaoli beaten on Rennes debut as angry fans disrupt Nantes loss
- Chiefs edge Panthers, Lions rip Colts as Dallas stuns Washington
Electric Kilde fires Olympic broadside with Kitzbuehel victory
In-form Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde fired an Olympic broadside when he streaked to a "completely wild" victory in the famed World Cup downhill in Kitzbuehel on Friday.
On a course cut slightly short up high because of wind, Kilde clocked 1min 55.92sec to claim 100,000 euros ($113,400) in prize money, part of a 1m-euro pot on offer for three days of racing in the upmarket Austrian resort.
France's Johan Clarey, at 41 the elder statesman of the circuit, claimed second, 0.42sec adrift, while late-running teammate Blaise Giezendanner took a shock third (+0.63) after starting with bib number 43 in the field of 51.
"It's always been a dream for me to win in Kitzbuehel. I haven't been close in downhill before, it's an incredible feeling," said Kilde of his 12th World Cup victory.
The Norwegian, who is one half of alpine skiing's golden couple alongside his girlfriend, US star Mikaela Shiffrin, said he had come far in the last 12 months.
"I looked through my phone this morning and a photo from one year ago popped up and I was standing on my balcony in Innsbruck with crutches, having just had an operation on my knee," he said. "It's quite different now."
Kilde said the timing of his win "couldn't be better, to be honest. I'm just so stoked, so it's good for the Olympics".
Clarey, who bettered his own record as the oldest World Cup podium finisher, admitted to having woken up "stressed out".
"I think I knew I was capable of doing something good, I gave my all," he said, calling Kilde a "monster" on skis.
With the men's downhill at the Beijing Olympics just 16 days away, Kilde upstaged the fancied Swiss duo of Marco Odermatt and Beat Feuz, who won last season's two downhills here.
He also nullified a strong Austrian presence, including Matthias Mayer and Vincent Kriechmayr.
Mayer was nudged off the podium by Giezendanner's late show while Odermatt, who retains his lead in the overall World Cup standings, finished fifth, at 0.78sec.
Kilde truly mastered the 3km-long Streif course, the most prestigious course on the circuit, but also widely regarded as the most testing, down the Hahnenkamm mountain overlooking Kitzbuehel.
Any thoughts of Olympic gold are temporarily put on hold as racers focused completely on the thigh-trembling descent, which made its debut in 1931 and now sees the skiers reach motorway-coasting speeds of 140km/h while negotiating sections that have an 85-percent gradient.
- 'Riding a MotoGP bike' -
Kilde came out on top in best negotiating an icy course that falls, snakes and rolls through a wide variety of terrain, forcing racers to endure centrifugal forces of 3.1G in places.
The 29-year-old Norwegian could even afford an error coming into the penultimate jump so electrifying had his pace higher up the course been.
On a day of racing in which racers were deprived of the normal stomach-churning start that propels them to 100km/h in five seconds, eight racers failed to finish and were left to extract themselves from some of the 15km of nets and fencing ensuring safety down the course.
Covid-19 restrictions meant a maximum of 1,000 spectators this year, a far cry from the 90,000 Kitzbuehel normally welcomes in one of the world's most memorably raucous sporting events.
But one interested participant was local hero Marcel Hirscher, a record eight-time overall World Cup champion who retired in 2019.
He acted as one of the forerunners down the course, to give organisers an idea of conditions and safety.
"I wish I could book this racetrack every weekend because it’s like riding a MotoGP bike on a big circuit," the 32-year-old gushed.
Hirscher was also not surprised by Clarey's second-placed finish, the Frenchman's fourth podium finish in Kitzbuehel from a total of nine in a career stretching back to the 2004 season.
"We all knew he was prepared and it's amazing he's on point today and really good to see him on the podium," Hirscher said.
The Hahnenkamm race week continues with a slalom on Saturday, with heavy snow forecast, and a second downhill on Sunday.
O.Krause--BTB