How heavy metal music fuels Kitzbuhel winner Dominik Paris

Italy's Dominik Paris has conquered the legendary Streif course of Kitzbuhel once again.

The 29-year-old skier won the Hahnenkamm downhill in Austria, arguably skiing's most difficult and prestigious race, for the third time in his career.

He previously claimed the event in 2013 and 2017 and now is two wins short of Didier Cuche's record of five.

The Merano-born skier crossed the line on Friday in 1:56.82, 0.20 seconds ahead of reigning downhill world champion and two-time Olympic medallist Beat Feuz of Switzerland.

Austria's Otmar Striedinger finished in third place.

Paris joins a restricted group of three-time winners, including former overall World cup winners Luc Alphand (France) and Pirmin Zurbriggen (Switzerland).

But the Italian is a man of many talents.

He's a guitarist and also a singer, although he once admitted that his vocal efforts were more "growling followed by screaming!"

Curious about his music skills? Check this out!

Inspired by Pantera

'You Will' is one of the songs included in 'Time', the first album released by the 2013 downhill world silver medallist with his band 'Rise of Voltage'.

Paris started this new adventure with a group of friends from South Tyrol, his birthplace.

"I loved music since I was a child," he said. "In secondary school I started to listen to rock music and then I got more and more into heavy metal.

"My favourite band was Pantera. They were the ones to inspire me”.

Music always played a big part in his life:

Frontman

The skier is no stranger to performing in public.

A few years ago he was the lead vocalist of death metal band ‘5 Full Power’.

“We were doing covers, but then things didn’t work out and we broke up," Paris said in an interview with the Olympic Channel.

"After a while we guitarists and bass players met again and started writing songs to see if we were able to do it.

"We liked it so much and then we found a drummer so after one intense year we recorded the first album."

Headsphones on

Paris is busy competing on snow from late October to mid-March, but for him combining his job with his passion is not a problem.

“I write and we do rehearsals when I’m not training and we usually have concerts during the off-season.”

Many skiers use music to get pumped up before a race, something that the three-time Winter Olympian knows well.

"Me too, I use music a lot and I shuffle different metal songs on my music player," he revealed.

"I put the headphones on in the morning and I don’t take them off until the starting gate.”

Skiers-musicians

Paris is not the only musician among the World Cup skiers.

Sochi 2014 double Olympic champion Tina Maze, now retired, used to perform pop-rock songs on stage and even recorded a video.

Then there is reigning slalom Olympic champion Andre Myhrer, who always travels with his guitar and is part of a band too.

Two-time Olympic gold medallist Mikaela Shiffrin plays piano during her spare time and often uses a digital keyboard given to her by boyfriend and fellow skier Mathieu Faivre.

But who else shares in Paris’ particular music taste?

“I am not sure if there’s anyone who listens to such hard music," the Italian said.

"But if someone likes it, I'm happy to share my passion!”