French skier Sarrazin crowns breakthrough downhill season with Kitzbuehel win. Canada’s Alexander finishes fifth

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KITZBUEHEL, Austria (AP) — French skier Cyprien Sarrazin crowned his breakthrough season in speed races Friday by winning the first of this weekend’s two World Cup downhills on the storied Streif in Kitzbuehel.

Racing in cloudy conditions and struggling through technical turns on the icy and bumpy part of the 3.3-kilometer course, Sarrazin trailed then-leader Florian Schieder by up to 0.27 seconds before posting the fastest time in the last section to beat the Italian by 0.05.

World downhill champion Marco Odermatt was 0.34 behind in third.

Canada’s Cameron Alexander, of North Vancouver, B.C., placed fifth, 0.46 back of Sarrazin.

“The goal here is to be on the top step of the podium,” said Alexander. “I was close today and a top five in Kitzbuehel feels amazing. I focused on attacking the course today with good intensity and confidence and I’m happy with the result. I feel good coming into the race tomorrow.”

Alexander reached the World Cup podium last month with a third-place finish at the downhill in Bormio, Italy.

“It was not the perfect run, not an amazing run, but I finished with my heart. I knew that I did some mistakes, I had to finish really fast. That’s what I did,” Sarrazin said.

It was the Frenchman’s fourth career win and second in downhill, after triumphing on the iconic Stelvio course in Bormio last month.

A former giant slalom specialist, Sarrazin had two career podiums in technical races coming into the season, but racked up five top-three results in speed events over the last three weeks, including a super-G victory seven days ago.

Odermatt, who briefly led the race until his time was beaten by Schieder, denied fourth-placed American Ryan Cochran-Stiegle a podium result by 0.01.

“It wasn’t my best run of the season. And if you don’t show your best skiing in Kitz, you can’t win. It’s all right as it is,” said Odermatt, the two-time overall World Cup champion.

“(Sarrazin) skied smart. He has a super fast speed right now and is able to win, even without a 100-percent run.”

Sarrazin became the first French winner of the downhill in Kitzbuehel since Luc Alphand won in 1997. Alphand’s son, Nils, also took part in Friday’s race but finished outside the top 30.

Odermatt won two downhills, with Sarrazin as the runner-up both times, at Wengen in his native Switzerland.

Those were Odermatt’s first World Cup wins in the sport’s fastest discipline, nearly a year after winning the world downhill title.

The World Cup downhill champion from the past two seasons, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, is out for the season after his horrifying crash in the second Wengen downhill last Saturday.

Kilde had a second operation Thursday to repair two torn ligaments in his right shoulder. The Norwegian, long-term partner of American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin, also suffered a severe cut and nerve damage in his right calf.

Former world champion and home crowd favorite Vincent Kriechmayr, who won the first of two downhills on the Streif last year, was the best Austrian finisher in seventh.

Swiss skier Arnaud Boisset, a late starter with bin 53, placed ninth on his second run down the course, after he had to interrupt his first when a course worker slipped into the safety fencing.

Organizers postponed the start due to fog in the upper part of the course, but visibility was no issue anymore when the race started an hour later.

Another downhill on the Streif is scheduled for Saturday.

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