Kitzbühel (Austria) (AFP)
They were promised hell with two descents of the terrible Streif in two days.
While nearly half of the skiers have already not been able to start on Friday, the second race will only take place on Sunday.
After several days of clear weather in the Tyrol resort, fog, fine snowfall and positive temperatures deteriorated the condition of the track and the safety conditions, with the second descent scheduled for Saturday being postponed to Sunday.
And the super-G, third race of the week, is rescheduled on Monday.
This rest day offers the descenders a great opportunity to recharge their batteries after a grueling Friday when the race, on one of the hardest tracks in the world, dragged on for nearly three hours.
Some, like the French Johan Clarey, who fell in training on Thursday and then excellent 4th at 40 on Friday, already have a body to heal.
"It extends a week which is already long enough but it will do my body good, my pain is progressing very well, I just still have a little sore neck", he explained after a game of cards and before a sports session with the French team in the middle of the afternoon.
The American Ryan Cochran-Siegle and the Swiss Urs Kryenbühl, who fell heavily on Friday, will not leave.
Cochran-Siegle is recovering from a minor fracture of a cervical vertebrae.
Kryenbühl, who crashed violently on landing the last attacked jump at 146 km / h, abruptly ended his season with a concussion, a fractured right clavicle and a torn ligament in his right knee.
Other skiers expended a lot of mental energy on Friday, between those who waited hours before setting off, and those, the last 25 on the start list, who simply couldn't run with the interruption final of the race due to the wind after the bib 30.
- Four-race week for Pinturault -
The three favorites for Sunday are fairly easy to find, it is Friday's podium.
The Swiss Beat Feuz, triple holder of the downhill globe, has less weight on his shoulders with his first victory on the Streif.
The Austrian Matthias Mayer (2nd Friday, one victory in 2020) and the Italian Domink Paris (3rd Friday, three wins), very comfortable on the most famous track in the world, should once again be at the front. posts.
However, the change of program does not do Alexis Pinturault's business.
At the top of the overall standings, the Frenchman still plans to race the super-G on Monday before heading to Schladming, about 140 km east, near his base camp, where he is aiming for the podium in the contested slalom. late Tuesday.
His crazy week after a week without a race will end with two slaloms in Chamonix on Saturday and Sunday.
During his express return trip he will be able to console himself: virtual 2nd in the general classification after the serious injury of the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, the Swiss Marco Odermatt was the first rider that the organizers prevented from starting on Friday (bib 31), thus preventing him from scoring points on the first descent.
New program for the Men's Alpine Skiing World Cup in Kitzbühel:
Sunday 24 January: descent, at 10:20 a.m.
Monday January 25: super-G at 10:45 a.m.
© 2021 AFP