Kilde wins Saslong downhill; Canada's Crawford finishes 5th

Norwegian skier Aleksander Aamodt Kilde returned to the top of a men's World Cup downhill podium on Saturday, two days after finishing fifth in a shortened race at the same resort in Selva di Val Gardena, Italy.

Kilde dominated the full version of the classic race on the challenging Saslong for his third win from four downhills this season.

Canada's Jack Crawford finished fifth with a time of two minutes 3.04 seconds, just 0.27 shy of a podium finish and 0.69 back of Kilde.

Crawford posted his best finish ever at Val Gardena, improving on his seventh-place result on Thursday result. The 25-year old from Toronto now has four top-10 results this season.

"I'm feeling really good on my skis," Crawford said. "I'm looking to take a little break over the holidays and then to bring the gas back in Bormio. I'm excited to carry the momentum into rest of the season."

WATCH l Crawford grabs career-best result at Val Gardena:

Toronto's Jack Crawford places 5th in alpine skiing World Cup race

2 years ago

Duration 2:54

The 25-year-old finished with a time of 2:03.04 to earn a top-5 finish in the men's downhill competition during the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup stop in Val Gardena, Italy.

Broderick Thompson of Whistler, B.C. and Brodie Seger (North Vancouver, B.C., finishing 16th and 20th, respectively.

Kilde's powerful run saw him beat French veteran Johan Clarey by 0.35 seconds. Mattia Casse came a surprise third, 0.42 behind, in the Italian's first career podium.

"It's been a thrilling day," Kilde said. "Amazing to be in Val Gardena, as always, the crowd from top to bottom just shouting at you. It's just an amazing feeling crossing the finish line, especially with green numbers."

Overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt missed the podium for the first time in 12 races, as the Swiss allrounder trailed Kilde by 0.92 and shared seventh place with Travis Ganong, the top American finisher.

"Every series has to end. I expected it would end two days ago already," said Odermatt, whose podium streak had started in March 2022.

Odermatt maintained a clear lead in the overall standings with 636 points, 111 ahead of Kilde. Kilde leads Odermatt by 89 points in the season's downhill standings. Odermatt won the overall title last season, Kilde the downhill title.

Changing weather conditions enabled lower-ranked skiers to grab a top result, most notably two French skiers. Cyprien Sarrazin, who started 61st, finished ahead of Odermatt in sixth place, while Adrien Theaux wore bib 32 and placed fourth.

His ninth career downhill win put Kilde in outright third position among Norwegian skiers, surpassing Kjetil Jansrud, who retired last season. Aksel Lund Svindal with 14 wins and Lasse Kjus with 10 are the country's most successful downhillers.

Runner-up Clarey, who turns 42 next month, already was the oldest skier, male or female, to finish in the top three of a World Cup race.

Ganong led a strong showing of the U.S. team, with Jared Goldberg in ninth and Sam Morse in 15th. Bryce Bennett, who won the race last year, was 23rd.

Vincent Kriechmayr won the shortened downhill on the Saslong on Thursday in a race that had been postponed from Beaver Creek, Colorado.

Over the full distance on Saturday, the 2021 world champion from Austria finished 1.95 behind and outside the points in 32nd.

A super-G slated for Friday in Val Gardena was cancelled due to a mixture of fog, rain and warm temperatures.

The men's World Cup travels to nearby Alta Badia for two giant slaloms on Sunday and Monday.