Beaver Creek/Lake Lewis (DPA) – Dominic Schweiger at Beaver Creek’s starting home had more than just slope in his sights – and regretfully conceded his good eleventh place in the Downhill World Cup.
“Unfortunately it’s eight o’clock,” said the 30-year-old from Königssee. He missed out on the desired eighth place by 0.15 seconds, thus earning direct qualification for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Eleventh on the “Birds of Prey” slope in the US state of Colorado, however, she also achieved half the standard on Saturday. To qualify for the Winter Games, German athletes have to finish in the top eight or top 15 twice in a World Cup season.
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Kira Weidle is already a step ahead. 1, the Sternberg-born racer raced to seventh place at the World Cup in Lake Louise, Canada on Saturday and qualified for Beijing in the second downhill race of the season after being disappointed with 10th place a day earlier. It was a “solid start to the season” with some good points in the bag, she wrote on Instagram.
The World Cup runner-up in the Super-G had expected an even better place from the start, but ultimately gambled away a bit. “We were expecting a little more snow to be even better in the beginning. But one thing for sure is always a little lottery,” said the 25-year-old.
The only speed specialist on the German Ski Association (DSV) team with a level of top placement, however, like all competitors, could not hold a candle to the excellent Sofia Gogia. Italy easily won the second race on Friday.
The 29-year-old, who was last season’s best downhill skier at the World Cup, won 0.84 seconds ahead of American Breezy Johnson, just like on day one. The third place went to Switzerland’s Corinne Sutter (+0.98 s). The Weedel was 1.44 seconds slower. The second German starter, Nadine Kaffer, finished 46th, 4.84 seconds behind.
Norwegian Alexander Aamodt Kilde also celebrated a double victory at Beaver Creek. A day after the breakthrough in the Super-G, the 2020 overall World Cup winner overtook Austrian Mathias Meyer by 0.66 seconds in second. Switzerland’s Beat Fuse finished third by 1.01 seconds.
Andreas Sander just finished in the top 20. World Cup runner-up from Anipetal was 1.88 seconds slower than winner Kilde. This means “again full attack and a little more straight line attack,” he concluded. World Cup runners-up Romed Baumann finished 23rd and Josef Fürstel 26th.
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