The French ski racer Cyprien Sarrazin secured his next victory in the downhill classic in Kitzbühel with a true dream run in Thomas Dreßen’s farewell race. One day after his first triumph on the Streif, the 29-year-old outclassed his rival Marco Odermatt from Switzerland by 0.91 seconds. South Tyrolean Dominik Paris came third in the Austrian ski mecca (+1.44).
Sarrazin spoke on ARD about the “best moment of my life” and said: “I drove with my heart.” At the finish line, he took off his skis and jumped onto the advertising board, cheering. Odermatt had moved ahead and taken over a second away from the American Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who was leading at the time. At the finish he let out several cheers.
But Sarrazin was an impressive 2.79 seconds faster in extremely icy conditions than in his first coup. Sarrazin followed suit with his great compatriot Luc Alphand, who also triumphed twice in “Kitz” in 1995. “I can’t understand it all, it’s crazy,” he said.
Thomas Dreßen was carried on shoulders at the finish.
(Photo: Georg Hochmuth/AFP)
Dreßen (+4.46) crossed the finish line in his last performance to his dream song “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC. At the finish, wife Birgit and daughter Elena were waiting for the most successful German downhill skier in World Cup history, colleagues and competitors prepared him a champagne shower.
Andreas Sander (+2.54) showed improvement and was close to the top 15. Simon Jocher (+2.76), Romed Baumann (+3.03) and Josef Ferstl (+3.05) were further behind.