Kitzbühel (Austria) (AFP) - Beat Feuz led a Swiss 1-2 as he notched up his third downhill victory in Kitzbuehel on Sunday to send out a reminder to in-form Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde that competition will be keen come the Beijing Olympics.
Feuz, who previously won twice last year after notching up six podium finishes in various disciplines, clocked 1min 56.68sec to net 100,000 euros ($113,400) in prize money, part of a 1m-euro pot on offer for three days of racing in the upmarket Tyrolean resort.
Feuz's teammate Marco Odermatt extended his lead atop the overall World Cup standings with his second place, at 0.21sec, while Austrian Daniel Hemersberger ensured some home cheer with third (+0.90).
"I'm happy that I got through without any mistakes from top to bottom," said Feuz.
"Of course we Swiss wanted to hit back after Vincent (Kreichmayr) won in Wengen.It worked well with Marco and me.
"We had the forecast that it would get warm after all and that we should attack.We had a good plan and it worked."
Odermatt said the Swiss 1-2 was "amazing".
"I think I had the perfect run up until the traverse which was very difficult, although I still managed to get through the gate," he said.
"With Beat it's perfect for us, a third victory for him and a first podium for me here, the feeling is great."
Good weekend for Norway
Kilde had won the first of two downhills held on the Streif course on Friday, a race in which Feuz, who won super-G silver and downhill bronze in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, had to be content with an eighth-placed finish.
But the Norwegian was satisfied with his team's Hahnenkamm week.
"I have to keep working," said the 29-year-old who is one half of alpine skiing's golden couple alongside his girlfriend, US star Mikaela Shiffrin.
"But it was a cool weekend for Norway.Victory on Friday, second and third places in yesterday's slalom.That's cool a week before the Olympics."
The men's downhill at the February 4-20 Beijing Games might only be two weeks away, but the dangers thrown up on the Hahnenkamm mean any thoughts of Olympic gold are shelved as racers focus all their abilities, mental and physical, in safely negotiating the thigh-trembling descent in the fastest possible manner.
And there was no mistake from the stocky Feuz in overcast, clement conditions on Sunday as he scorched to his 16th World Cup victory.
Odermatt preceded him down the 3.3km-long Streif course, the most prestigious on the circuit, but also widely regarded as the most testing, setting an electric pace that was slightly dented by an error coming into the final descent.
Feuz, who hit motorway-coasting speeds of 140km/h while negotiating sections that have an 85-percent gradient, took to the startgate and matched his teammate's pace, but the 34-year-old crucially kept his nerve on the tight left-hander to drop into the finish area slightly ahead.
Kilde, starting in bib number 11, paid the price for a couple of small errors high up the course, never managing to make up for the lost time measured in tenths of seconds.
The Norwegian eventually finished sixth and stands second, on 825 points, to Odermatt (1,200pts) in the overall standings.
Austria's Matthias Mayer, who finished fourth ahead of French veteran Johan Clarey, is third in the general classification (692).
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 the Swiss pair atop the podium, as well as the Austrian contingent, were afforded no small cheer by a vocal band of bell-ringing, flag-waving supporters.
