Cyprien Sarrazin wins on the legendary Kitzbühel descent

Immense feat by Cyprien Sarrazin who becomes the third French downhiller in history to win on the Streif!

Legendary!

Relief in the French camp: with the passage of Matthieu Bailet, who took 11th place, thirty runners set off. Even if the race stops, Cyprien’s victory will be confirmed.

Frankly, we don’t see who could come and dislodge the Frenchman.

But how did Cyprien manage to tame the Streif? We’ll have to wait to find out…

“I won’t give you my secret, there is still a race tomorrow,” laughed the Frenchman upon arrival at the Eurosport microphone.

What if he did the double, like Luc Alphand in 1995?

Will the race stop? To validate the result, 30 runners must have started. And we are at bib 27…

The American Goldberg is on the track, but he is at the wrong time on the top. On top of that, the fog is setting in. In short, DO YOU FEEL IT COMING?

Late throughout the intermediate section, Cyprien gave us a crazy comeback on the Streif to take the lead of the race. The proof in pictures…

The only two French people to have won downhill on the Streif? Killy and Alphand, sorry…

No one comes close to Sarrazin’s time anymore. It smells very, very good! Maxence Muzaton takes a nice 10th place at 1″26. It’s the big blue in Kitzbühel!

The Germans are not in great shape this season in terms of speed. Will this change? Romed Baumann on the track and like Adrien Théaux, he drops hundredths at each intermediate. 2″32 behind at the bottom, the Germans occupy two of the last three places.

A third Frenchman on the track, Adrien Théaux. He maintains a lot of height, but the delay accumulates. More than a second of disbursement before the beam.

Great speed in the final schuss, but the delay is too great. 13th place at 1”75.

It’s not always the fastest, but he knew how to ski the technical part perfectly to grab the hundredths he was missing and move ahead on the last section.

Whoever wants to beat him will have to arrive with a big lead in the finale!

Murisier makes a nice top but lacks speed in the intermediate section, and that pays off on the bottom. In the end, it’s the 8th time at 0″83.

…but there are still some great names, like the Swiss Justin Murisier, currently on the track.

1. Cyprien Sarrazin 1’55″72

2. Florian Schieder +0″05

3. Marco Odermatt +0″34

It was far from perfect, but he was able to catch up from the bottom! Some wide trajectories suggest that he will tremble until the end for victory.

Will it be enough? We’ll see that! In any case for the downhill globe, he will do well since Odermatt is behind in the ranking with Schieder interposed.

He is on a tightrope, the risk-taking is maximum. It’s fast on the flat, we’ll see how much it does when it comes off the road. 10 hundredths behind the Italian, we will have to make up time.

Come on, the final, 17 hundredths behind, it’s doable with good effort!!

At the finish…. 5 HUNDREDS AHEAD, SARRAZIN IS AHEAD!!

Let’s go to Sarrazin…

The Italian arrives half a second ahead of Odermatt in the final, we know that the Swiss finished well but still…

It’s slower, but THAT’S ENOUGH! Surprise on the Streif: Schieder takes control of this Kitzbühel descent!!

Very very nice descent from the American who is in front of the Swiss throughout the middle of his run. He maintains a lot of height in the finale, it can pass, Odermatt was not imperial, and that gives… A HUNDREDTH DELAY AT THE ARRIVAL!!

It came very, very close, will Odermatt’s time last until the end?

Very big jump from the start, the commitment is total. Half a second at the start of the path. But his lead melts like snow in the sun and he is within the Canadian’s time as the final approaches. How will he handle it?

You have to go as fast as possible, 140.3 km/h is a little faster than Alexander! And upon arrival… IT’S AHEAD!! 12 hundredths ahead, but it was right!

Odermatt is in front but hasn’t crushed the race, we believe it for Cyprien!!

We still feel that there is room for some heavy weather. Odermatt or Sarrazin?

Big difference from the Austrian at the top of the course, he cuts aggressive curves, but we know that it is at the bottom that Alexander made the difference. The cross is very beautiful, but will it be enough? WELL NO! 3rd time for Kriechmayr!

The Italian maintains height up top and is faster than Alexander. However, it lacks a bit of commitment. It turns green almost all the way, is above 140 km/h in the final but NO!!

It’s the 2nd time, Cameron Alexander remains in the lead!

We’ll quickly see what Cameron Alexander’s time is worth…

It’s the turn of the American Bennett to start, but he is out of time on the top and goes very wide on certain trajectories. The bottom is better but it is sorely lacking in speed. 4th time at the finish.

The Frenchman is on Cameron Alexander’s time at the top, but he endures the track and stores less speed. It’s the second time, more than half a second behind the Canadian.

The Canadian Cameron Alexander takes the lead of the race after a very clean, if a little wise, descent. To see what his time will give when the best pass by…

Dominik Paris will be the first of the favorites to start, with bib 7. Vincent Kriechmayr (8), Marco Odermatt (10) and Cyprien Sarrazin (14) will follow.

First Frenchman to start, Nils Allègre with bib 5.

The Swiss Stefan Rogentin is the first to set off…

Initially scheduled for 11:30 a.m., the start of the Kitzbühel descent was postponed to 12:30 p.m. by the organizers due to weather conditions.

It has snowed a lot in recent hours at the Austrian Tyrol resort and this Friday morning, the visibility was too low to allow the race to start at the scheduled time.

The Streif is not available to just anyone. And in history, only two French skiers have managed to tame it.

Forever the first, Jean-Claude Killy won there during the very first edition, in 1967. We then had to wait almost 30 years to see a Frenchman climb to the highest step of the podium thanks to a incredible double from Luc Alphand, winner twice in two days in 1995 on the legendary downhill even though he had never won in the World Cup. He would triumph there a third time in 1997, even winning the Big Crystal Globe at the end of the season.

Both can now boast of having a gondola in their name in Kitzbühel, an honor reserved for champions who have won the resort in the World Cup.

He’s THE French skier of the moment. Since the start of the season, Cyprien Sarrazin is the only one to look the alien Marco Odermatt in the eyes in the speed events, to the point of challenging him for leadership in the race for the small downhill globe (2nd to 66 points from the Swiss ).

Winner in Bormio, twice 2nd in Wengen (before winning the Super-G), the Haut-Alpine is flying on skis this season. A cat’s touch of snow, a mind-boggling risk-taking: nothing seems to stop Cyprien Sarrazin on the descent. To the point of winning this Friday on the toughest of them?

The rockets of the circuit therefore have an appointment this Friday with the legendary Streif, the track which hosts the Kitzbühel men’s downhill every year.

A dizzying, technical track, the scene of a number of falls in its history and which is only available to very experienced downhillers, as evidenced by its track record full of prestigious names.

Welcome to this live dedicated to the terrible descent from Kitzbühel which will begin this Friday at 12:30 p.m.