Unbeatable Beat
Jan 24, 2021·Alpine Skiing
It took Beat Feuz 11 starts to earn his first downhill victory in Kitzbühel, now the Swiss is unstoppable as he earned his second consecutive victory on the Streif this weekend.
Due to scheduling changes, Kitzbühel hosted two downhill races this year, and Feuz took full advantage, earning some precious 200 World Cup points. Both days, it was nail biter for Feuz. On Friday, the victory looked uncertain due to challenging weather that 30 racers would start to make the results official. Today, Feuz himself was not certain that his run, coming wearing bib #9, would hold up through the rest of the field. His racing on the bottom part of the course was flawless, but on the upper half he was off the winning pace.
Feuz’s tensest moment came, once again, at the hand of Matthias Mayer (AUT), as the two continue their excellent rivalry in Kitzbühel. Mayer was close at every interval, but in the end fell short of finishing in green by 0.38 seconds, good for third place.
Second place went to Johan Clarey, who Feuz bumped out of the lead after topping the Frenchman by 0.17 seconds. Clarey became the first 40 year-old to earn a podium on the Streif. Also pulling off a surprisingly strong finish was Italian Christof Innerhofer, who came in fourth, earning his best downhill finish since 2019, which also was a fourth place finish in Kitzbühel.
It was a round number day for Feuz, who earnd his 50th World Cup podium and his 15th victory. He also joined a very elite club of men to win two Kitzbühel races in the same weekend. The last time the feat was accomplished was 26 years ago by Luc Alphand (FRA).
Today’s conditions were a far cry from Friday’s marathon race, which took nearly three hours. It looks early on that fog at the top of the hill could spoil the day, but after a five-minute pause, the fog cleared allowing for ideal conditions.
Tomorrow the action continues in Kitzbühel for a rare Monday super-G race. The entire program was bumped by one day after weather poor weather forced the rescheduling of weekend races.
