Kline claims maiden win in first Kvitfjell downhill

By Published On: February 24th, 2017Comments Off on Kline claims maiden win in first Kvitfjell downhill

It was a perfect Scandinavian winter day as sunshine bathed the men’s downhill course in Kvitfjell, Norway, on Friday as Slovenia’s Bostjan Kline claimed the first World Cup victory of his career with a time of 1:29.20 seconds in the replacement race for the cancelled Lake Louise downhill last November. Austria’s Matthias Mayer finished in second place, 0.19 seconds back and Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud gave the home fans something to cheer about, finishing 0.20 seconds back in third.

After high winds in the morning on the upper portion of the course forced organizers to lower the start to the reserve start, racing action got underway at 11:15 am CET. Running early with bib four, Kline took advantage of the fresh course and skied clean and powerful down the sprint downhill and never relinquished the lead despite a few close challengers. Jansrud looked to have locked up the runner-up spot before Mayer, with bib 18, managed so slide just one-hundredth of a second ahead of the hometown hero for second, bumping Jansrud to third.

Kline has admittedly struggled with his confidence as of late and even raced a few lower-level FIS races after World Championships to try and get back on the right track. Needless to day, with Friday’s win, the Slovenian now looks to finish the season strong.

“It feels good,” Kline said. “The whole season I knew that I can ski good, that I can ski fast. You know, I just had to be patient and today, everything came together with the skiing, the start routine, warmup and everything. It was ups and downs during this season. Hot and cold. There were things that were really good but I had some mistakes in my runs but now it was good.”

KVITFJELL,NORWAY,24.FEB.17 - ALPINE SKIING - FIS World Cup, downhill, men. Image shows the rejoicing of Matthias Mayer (AUT). Photo: GEPA pictures/ Matic Klansek

Photo: GEPA pictures/ Matic Klansek

Friday’s result is Mayer’s second World Cup podium since the 2014 Olympic downhill champion broke his back at last season’s Val Gardena downhill. Mayer also won the Kitzbuehel super-G in January.

“I really needed the time in downhill to give everything, to risk everything,” Mayer explained. “If you don’t do that, you can’t be on the podium. I’m very happy about my run today because it feels great to be back with these guys, to be one of the fastest here.”

Being somewhat of a Kvitfjell native, growing up just north of the 1994 Olympic venue, it is always special for Jansrud to make it on the podium in front of family and friends, especially given his bout with sickness at World Championships earlier this month.

“It felt good,” he said in the finish. “It’s home field advantage so you kind of wanna win, but today was a tight race and third place is good and that makes it even better when you look at the overall (downhill title) and I grab the red jersey back, which is always a good thing even though it’s still very tight between Fill and I, it’s a good start to the week. I feel much better, the biggest thing is I had bronchitis in the World Champs. Now that’s way better, now I don’t have any problems.”

Canada’s Erik Guay and Manuel Osborne-Paradis managed to finish back-to-back in fourth and fifth place, respectively, as the veteran duo seems to be building on their World Championships momentum.

For the Americans, Travis Ganong led the way with an eighth-place finish. Jared Goldberg clocked in a solid 14th place as Bryce Bennett and Andrew Weibrecht rounded out the points scorers in 27th and 30th, respectively. Brennan Rubie finished 43 in his first World Cup downhill start and Thomas Biesemeyer finished 49th.

There were several other impressive performances on Friday as Germany’s Thomas Dressen charged from bib 48 to finish sixth, Swiss racer Mauro Caviezel went from 39th to 10th, and Austrian Christian Walder managed to finish in 13th from bib 37. Canadian Broderick Thompson took a scary crash as he was entering the lower section of the course but was able to ski down under his own power.

The men now race a second downhill in Kvitfjell on Saturday, Feb. 25.

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Top 10

  1. Bostjan Kline (SLO) – Stoeckli/Head/Atomic
  2. Matthias Mayer (AUT) – Head/Head/Head
  3. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR) – Head/Head/Head
  4. Erik Guay (CAN) – Head/Head/Head
  5. Manuel Osborne-Paradis (CAN) – Head/Head/Head
  6. Thomas Dressen (GER) – Rossignol/Lange/Look
  7. Beat Feuz (SUI) – Head/Head/Head
  8. Travis Ganong (USA) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  9. Hannes Reichelt (AUT) – Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
  10. Mauro Caviezel (SUI) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points WC Points
 1  4  561216 KLINE Bostjan 1991 SLO  1:29.20  0.00  100.00
 2  18  53902 MAYER Matthias 1990 AUT  1:29.39  +0.19  2.66  80.00
 3  9  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil 1985 NOR  1:29.40  +0.20  2.80  60.00
 4  7  102263 GUAY Erik 1981 CAN  1:29.45  +0.25  3.50  50.00
 5  12  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel 1984 CAN  1:29.54  +0.34  4.76  45.00
 6  48  202535 DRESSEN Thomas 1993 GER  1:29.58  +0.38  5.33  40.00
 7  17  511383 FEUZ Beat 1987 SUI  1:29.61  +0.41  5.75  36.00
 8  5  530874 GANONG Travis 1988 USA  1:29.63  +0.43  6.03  32.00
 9  11  50742 REICHELT Hannes 1980 AUT  1:29.80  +0.60  8.41  29.00
 10  39  511513 CAVIEZEL Mauro 1988 SUI  1:29.82  +0.62  8.69  26.00
 11  13  291459 PARIS Dominik 1989 ITA  1:29.86  +0.66  9.25  24.00
 12  2  422139 KILDE Aleksander Aamodt 1992 NOR  1:29.92  +0.72  10.09  22.00
 13  37  54009 WALDER Christian 1991 AUT  1:29.99  +0.79  11.07  20.00
 14  24  934643 GOLDBERG Jared 1991 USA  1:30.01  +0.81  11.35  18.00
 15  3  511313 JANKA Carlo 1986 SUI  1:30.03  +0.83  11.63  16.00
 16  15  292455 FILL Peter 1982 ITA  1:30.04  +0.84  11.77  15.00
 17  23  202059 FERSTL Josef 1988 GER  1:30.05  +0.85  11.91  14.00
 17  20  200379 SANDER Andreas 1989 GER  1:30.05  +0.85  11.91  14.00
 19  35  53968 BERTHOLD Frederic 1991 AUT  1:30.09  +0.89  12.47  12.00
 20  21  50753 KROELL Klaus 1980 AUT  1:30.12  +0.92  12.89  11.00
 21  14  192932 FAYED Guillermo 1985 FRA  1:30.20  +1.00  14.01  10.00
 22  19  192746 THEAUX Adrien 1984 FRA  1:30.24  +1.04  14.57  9.00
 23  8  53980 KRIECHMAYR Vincent 1991 AUT  1:30.25  +1.05  14.71  8.00
 23  6  53817 FRANZ Max 1989 AUT  1:30.25  +1.05  14.71  8.00
 25  52  292514 HEEL Werner 1982 ITA  1:30.26  +1.06  14.85  6.00
 26  10  51215 BAUMANN Romed 1986 AUT  1:30.30  +1.10  15.41  5.00
 27  41  512124 HINTERMANN Niels 1995 SUI  1:30.53  +1.33  18.64  4.00
 27  22  6530104 BENNETT Bryce 1992 USA  1:30.53  +1.33  18.64  4.00
 29  45  561255 CATER Martin 1992 SLO  1:30.54  +1.34  18.78  2.00
 30  27  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew 1986 USA  1:30.59  +1.39  19.48  1.00
 31  57  422483 THORSEN Alexander Sannes 1996 NOR  1:30.64  +1.44  20.18
 32  42  512042 KRYENBUEHL Urs 1994 SUI  1:30.70  +1.50  21.02
 33  36  194368 RAFFORT Nicolas 1991 FRA  1:30.74  +1.54  21.58
 34  16  191740 CLAREY Johan 1981 FRA  1:30.76  +1.56  21.86
 35  1  511139 KUENG Patrick 1984 SUI  1:30.78  +1.58  22.14
 36  34  511981 WEBER Ralph 1993 SUI  1:30.82  +1.62  22.70
 37  32  512039 ROULIN Gilles 1994 SUI  1:30.85  +1.65  23.12
 38  50  422120 SAUGESTAD Stian 1992 NOR  1:30.88  +1.68  23.54
 39  30  191964 POISSON David 1982 FRA  1:30.89  +1.69  23.68
 40  40  561217 KOSI Klemen 1991 SLO  1:30.91  +1.71  23.96
 41  43  561067 PERKO Rok 1985 SLO  1:31.00  +1.80  25.22
 42  54  501987 MONSEN Felix 1994 SWE  1:31.06  +1.86  26.07
 43  60  934568 RUBIE Brennan 1991 USA  1:31.07  +1.87  26.21
 44  28  54005 STRIEDINGER Otmar 1991 AUT  1:31.08  +1.88  26.35
 45  46  180570 ROMAR Andreas 1989 FIN  1:31.13  +1.93  27.05
 46  31  511847 MANI Nils 1992 SUI  1:31.17  +1.97  27.61
 47  56  6290845 BOSCA Guglielmo 1993 ITA  1:31.18  +1.98  27.75
 48  25  194167 MUZATON Maxence 1990 FRA  1:31.19  +1.99  27.89
 49  44  531452 BIESEMEYER Thomas 1989 USA  1:31.31  +2.11  29.57
 50  29  194298 GIEZENDANNER Blaise 1991 FRA  1:31.35  +2.15  30.13
 51  51  6290540 DE VETTORI Matteo 1993 ITA  1:31.38  +2.18  30.55
 52  47  102271 HUDEC Jan 1981 CZE  1:31.62  +2.42  33.91
 53  55  110324 VON APPEN Henrik 1994 CHI  1:31.63  +2.43  34.05
 54  33  6290985 BUZZI Emanuele 1994 ITA  1:32.10  +2.90  40.64
 55  59  380341 ULLRICH Max 1994 CRO  1:32.41  +3.21  44.98
 56  58  100558 COOK Dustin 1989 CAN  1:32.55  +3.35  46.95
 57  53  54209 KRENN Christoph 1994 AUT  1:32.82  +3.62  50.73
 58  61  170159 VORRE Marcus 1998 DEN  1:34.88  +5.68  79.60
Did not finish 1st run
 49  104096 THOMPSON Broderick 1994 CAN
 38  103512 FRISCH Jeffrey 1984 CAN
 26  194190 ROGER Brice 1990 FRA

 

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About the Author: Sean Higgins

A Lake Tahoe native and University of Vermont graduate, Higgins was a member of the Catamounts' 2012 NCAA title winning squad and earned first team All-American honors in 2013. Prior to coming to Ski Racing Media, he coached U14s for the Squaw Valley Ski Team.