Another Austrian sweep at Garmisch sprint downhill

After a dissatisfying first half of the season that included a dismal performance at the World Championships, the Austrian men’s downhill team found itself in some hot water with the fans and media back home. But with back-to-back podium sweeps in the discipline, not even the Austrians can be disgruntled with the team’s recent results.

Hannes Reichelt, Romed Baumann and Matthias Mayer finished in that order on an abbreviated Kandahar track in Garmisch-Partenkirchen Saturday. The race was delayed several hours due to fog and ultimately run from the ladies’ super G start.

Reichelt, who appeared to be the man to beat in training, finished with the winning time of 1 minute, 11.90 seconds. It was a tight competition all the way around: Baumann missed out on the victory by a mere hundredth, while less than a second separated the top 33 racers.

Reichelt took a questionably direct line into the critical Eishang section and fell to as much as 0.18 seconds back, but managed to generate and carry good speed through Freier Fall and into the finish.

“This is great because Kandahar is a classic downhill course,” said Reichelt. “Today from the half start it was a close race … so you really have to be fast to get the victory. I’m happy that they (completed) the race because it’s really important for our sport. It’s good to be on top of the podium. It show’s my shape is at a high level right now.”

For Baumann, who hasn’t finished on the downhill podium since 2012, the result is encouraging but also bittersweet. Saturday marks the fourth time he has finished runner-up in downhill. (He has a pair of wins in the combined.)

“It was really close like in Groeden. Maybe some day the hundredths will be on my side,” Baumann said. “I was happy we had the race. There are a lot of people in the finish area, a good crowd and they came to see a good race. It wasn’t from the top part but I’m glad that we started this race today.”

Despite battling a cold, Mayer was able to build off his momentum from a pair of wins a week ago on home snow to fight for a third-pace finish.

“It’s just like Saalbach,” said a raspy-voiced Mayer. “It’s pretty awesome for us. We couldn’t have imagined that earlier in the season. Three Austrians on the podium, yeah, couldn’t be better. … I’m happy with my third place because today it wasn’t easy for me. I’m a little bit sick and tired. I’m glad the race was a little bit shorter today.”

Marco Sullivan threw down his best result since Lake Louise earlier this season — in fact it’s his best result outside of Lake Louise since Wengen in 2009. Running 23rd, Sully was even at the second split but lost time below Freier Fall, otherwise he could have been a threat for the podium.

“It was pretty typical Garmisch weather. We’ve been battling this fog pretty much every time we’ve been here the last five years or so. It was a day where you had to stay focused through all the delays. I had an inkling that we would run eventually — kind of a bummer that we had to go from the super G start start. It neuters the race. The top section is really fun.

“For me personally, I had good training runs. I knew I was skiing well,” he added. “The race was so tight. I think a tenth one way or the other would have cost me five places. It was just go for broke.”

Meanwhile, Kjetil Jansrud can’t be too pleased with his 19th-place result. The Norwegian was very direct up top but got a low on the bottom part of the run and dragged his arm at one point, which seemed to have an impact on his time.

The result certainly doesn’t help Jansrud’s chances in the overall title chase with Marcel Hirscher who leads by 104 points. In fact, with two races remaining and an 84-point lead over Reichelt in the downhill standings, the discipline title is now also in play as the season draws to a close.

See more photos from this race here.

The Scoop

By Hank McKee

1. Reichelt, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
2. Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
3. Mayer, Head/Head/Head
4. Varettoni, Head/Head/Head
5. Paris, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
6. Sullivan, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7. Kriechmayr, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
8. Streitberger, Head/Head/Head
9. Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
10. Franz, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Men’s World Cup downhill, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Feb. 28, 2015:

• It is the 28^th of 38 races on the men’s schedule … the eighth of ten scheduled downhills. … It is the 100^th World Cup held at least in part at Garmisch, the first in 1970 … the 40^th downhill. … Most recent World Cup DH winner is Christof Innerhofer in 2013. … After several postponements due  to fog the start is lowered to the super G start.
• It is the tenth career World Cup victory  for Hannes Reichelt … his first at Garmisch. … It is his fourth win of the season including a gold medal in super G at the World Championships. … It is the second straight podium sweep by Austrians in men’s downhill … an extremely close race. … The winning margin is .01 of a second. … Top 33 are within the same second. … The Austrians cram six into the top 10.
• It is the tenth career World Cup podium placing for Romed Baumann, his first since February of 2012.
• It is the 11th career World Cup podium for Matthias Mayer. … He podiumed twice this season at Saalbach earlier this month.
• Marco Sullivan matches his tenth best career World Cup finish. … It is his second best finish of the season after a fifth in DH at Lake Louise back in November. … It is the 30^th best career World Cup result for Steven Nyman and his third best at Garmisch. … It is the 14^th best World Cup result for Benjamin Thomsen, matching his third best finish for the season. … Travis Ganong scores his best result at Garmisch, bettering his placing from 2012.
• Marcel Hirscher (did not race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 1028-912 over Kjetil Jansrud (19^th in race). … Alexis Pinturault (did not race) is third overall with 699pts. … Ted Ligety (did not race) leads the Americans in 12^th place with 420pts.
• Jansrud holds the lead of the downhill standings 469-385 over Reichelt. … Dominik Paris (fifth in race) is third with 357pts. … Steven Nyman is the top U.S. skier in sixth with 268pts. … Ganong is 10th with 200pts.
• Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup standings 4373-2817 over France. … Italy is third with 2647. … The U.S. is seventh with 1454pts and Canada ninth at 475pts.

Results