Kilde double winner in the speed races in USA
After last year's closedown when it was impossible to have World Cup races in North America because of the corona situation, we had great expectations to the speed races in Canada and USA in November and December.
Unfortunately Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada had severe problems with snowfall, so that it was only possible to organize one downhill race, and no Super-G. The favourites Matthias Mayer (AUT), Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) and Beat Feuz (SUI) were on the podium after the downhill in Lake Louise. The Attacking Vikings reached moderate resultats with Aleksander Aamodt Kilde on nineth, Kjetil Jansrud on eighteenth, Adrian Smiseth Sejested on 29th and Henrik Røa on 53rd. For Kilde and Sejersted this was the first race after they got thei last season aborted early because of injuries.
Beaver Creek in Colorado, USA therefore was given the task to organize four races, two downhills and two Super-Gs. In the first Super-G we had the favourites Marco Odermatt (SUI) and Matthias Mayer (AUT) on first and second place, and the suprise Broderick Thompson (CAN) on third. The Norwegians performed better here, with Adrian Smiseth Sejersted on seventh and Kjetil Jansrud on 14th, while Aleksander Aamodt Kilde did not finish.
Then it turned around for the Norwegians in the second Super-G race. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde took his first victory after his injury interruption and won the race 3/100 second before Marco Odermatt with Travis Ganong (USA) on third and Adrian Smiseth Sejersted on 13th. Unfortunately Kjetil Jansrud had an accident which led to a knee injury, and all the season may be spoiled for him. Kjetil had expressed that he considered to finish his fantastic career in Kvitfjell during the World Cup in Kvitfjell in March 2022. How this will be now, we do not know.
In the downhill race on Saturday December 4th Aleksander Aamodt Kilde stroke again with a win, this time with a solid margin of 0.66 second before Matthias Mayer and 1.01 second before Beat Feuz. We are also happy about Adrian Smiseth Sejersted who captured a tenth place, while Henrik Røa came in 47th.
The downhill race on Sunday was cancelled due to thr wind conditions.
We can really look forward to the continuation in Europa and China, and then we will hope that Kjetil Jansrud, legendary with medals from three Olympic Games, will come back with full strength.
