The skiers were finally able to launch the North American tour after the cancellation of a first descent on Friday in Lake Louise and the giant women planned in Killington (United States) on Saturday earlier in the day, due to bad weather conditions.

Under a gray sky, the Lake Louise track has reserved its podium for regulars and big winners: its three occupants accumulate 68 top-3 in World Cup downhill.

Olympic downhill champion in 2014, Matthias Mayer won at 31 his 11th victory on the circuit, the 7th in this discipline, ahead of the reigning world champion Vincent Kriechmayr.

Quadruple holder of the small globe of the specialty, Beat Feuz achieved as usual an excellent end of course to climb to 34 years on his 41st podium in downhill, equaling the record of his compatriot Peter Müller and the Austrian Franz Klammer.

The sensation came rather from the 4th place of Marco Odermatt.

The 24-year-old Swiss thus achieved his best result in the discipline, where he has shown constant progress for a year despite a lighter build than the pure specialists.

Odermatt also seemed to make several small mistakes in the midst of the nearly two-minute effort, leaving him still an interesting margin for improvement.

Winner of the opening giant at the end of October in Sölden (Austria), he retains the lead in the general classification of the World Cup, for which he presents himself more than ever as one of the favorites, after being deprived of the title in the spring by Alexis Pinturault.

The Frenchman started in Lake Louise for the 5th descent of his career at the highest level only, without once again succeeding in scoring points despite an encouraging performance (32nd at 2 sec 35, the first 30 score).

"I am extremely happy, he assured. My goal was to take landmarks, not necessarily to score points. To finish 2 sec 35 from the winner while the visibility decreases as the passages are a very good race. "

Pinturault was able to make his mark before the super-G scheduled for Sunday at 8:15 p.m. on the same track, a discipline where he is able to play the leading roles (he was world bronze medalist in February at Cortina d'Ampezzo), despite the profile of the Canadian track which he considers little to his advantage.

Matthieu Bailet was the fastest Frenchman, finishing 7th at 79/100, although his preparation was disrupted by a fractured right forearm in early September.

Johan Clarey finished 21st at 1 sec 79, Maxence Muzaton 28th at 2 sec 23.

© 2021 AFP