Beat Feuz doubles up with another downhill win at Kitzbühel

Two days after finally breaking his Kitzbühel duck, Switzerland's Beat Feuz made it two in a row as he won the classic downhill race on the Streif again on Sunday (24 January).

In markedly different conditions to Friday – Sunday brought cold, cloudy conditions and thick fog near the top of the course that stopped the race for 10 minutes with Feuz waiting in the start house – the 33-year-old was once again the best of the field with an attacking run.

With the fog having temporarily lifted off the Mausefalle jump at the top, Feuz was quick through the opening section, and although he dropped a bit of time through the middle third, a full-gas run through the bottom part of the course including a big leap off the final Zielschuss jump sent him into the lead with a time of 1:55.29.

The win was Feuz's 12th career Alpine Ski World Cup downhill win, level with countryman Didier Cuche and Kristian Ghedina. It was also his 38th World Cup downhill podium, moving him into a tie for third all-time.

There was a late scare for Feuz as Italy's Florian Schieder, wearing bib number 50, found himself inside the Swiss' time through the first half of the course before Schieder dropped away, eventually finishing 14th.

"Yes, it's very special, I've tried for five years to win in Kitzbühel on the Streif and finally I've done it two times this year," Feuz told FIS after the race in German.

"I really enjoyed skiing on the Streif today," he added, before laughing that winning twice on the hill was still not enough to make him speak in English.

With Austria's Matthias Mayer, the red bib wearer, only third, Feuz takes over the lead at the top of the slalom cup standings. France's Johan Clarey was second, making him the oldest downhill World Cup podium finisher on the Streif at 40 years old.

Clarey, the fifth man to take to the course, had crashed in training on Wednesday but did not look any worse for wear.

Coming off the back of a fourth-placed finish on Friday, he skied a near-perfect line through the course, picking up time on then-leader Romed Baumann all the way down.

Although Feuz would knock him off top spot, the 40-year-old will be very happy with his seventh career World Cup downhill podium and his second at Kitzbühel (he was also third on the Streif in 2017).

Mayer had to contend with the fog at the top, which had filtered back in over the Hahnenkamm mountain – his jump off the Mausefalle was recorded at just 33 metres, nearly 10m shorter than Feuz.

Although he took a deficit into the technical flats, the Austrian gained time and even recorded a time split ahead of Feuz's through the Seidlalmsprung jump.

However, the bumpier snow towards the end of the course took its toll, with Mayer having to contend with his skis kicking up off the bumps as he dropped time and fell behind even Clarey's time.

The Super-G race originally scheduled for Sunday will take place on Monday morning instead.