Beat Feuz six points away from the Downhill Crystal Globe

​Beat Feuz is on the verge of successfully defending his Downhill World Cup title. Following his second place in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, the HEAD World Cup Rebel is only six points short of victory. Wendy Holdener nailed another two podium finishes in Kranjska Gora in Slalom and Giant Slalom.

Beat Feuz was second in the Downhill on Thursday in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, missing victory by just seven hundredths of a second. In the Downhill World Cup, the Swiss athlete now has exactly 600 points under his belt, giving him a lead of 194 points with two races still to go.

"It's always a pity when it's so close. Nobody had a perfect run. Partly also because there was only one training session on a course that we hardly ever ski. In the middle section I lost the line a little bit two or three times, but finishing in second place is also good", said Beat Feuz. "It was very close. I assume that he will score six points in the last two races," said HEAD Racing Director Rainer Salzgeber confidently. Kjetil Jansrud from Norway was sixth in the Downhill, Johan Clarey from France ninth and Matthias Mayer from Austria eleventh.

Christian Walder just misses podium finish

In the Sprint Super-G in Saalbach-Hinterglemm on Friday, Christian Walder just missed the podium to finish in fourth place. Nevertheless, it was the best World Cup result for the Austrian athlete in his career so far. Eighth place in the Downhill in Beaver Creek in 2018 was the 28-year-old's best result previously. Among the top 15 were HEAD World Cup Rebels Mattia Casse from Italy in fifth place, Alexis Pinturault from France in sixth place, Kjetil Jansrud ninth, Johan Clarey 13th and Emanuele Buzzi from Italy in 14th place.

Wendy Holdener takes two podium places

Wendy Holdener stood on the podium twice this weekend. In the Slalom on Sunday in Kranjska Gora the Swiss athlete finished second, just 24 hundredths of a second behind. It was the 24th podium finish in the Slalom for Holdener, who finished third the day before in the Giant Slalom in Kranjska Gora.

"I was doing great for the first two split times and was feeling really good. But then came the steep section which I did not enjoy that much," is how Wendy Holdener analysed her race. Anna Swenn-Larsson from Sweden led with the fastest time following the first run, but then well on her way to victory on the second run dropped out just before the finish line. "This was devastating for Anna of course - it's very sad when you drop out shortly before the finish after two brilliant runs," said Rainer Salzgeber. "Wendy again demonstrated that she is consistent. In the Giant Slalom she did very well and in the Slalom she has reached the same place she was last year. It was a shame though, we really deserved that win.“

In the Giant Slalom tenth place went to Sara Hector from Sweden and 13th place to Lara Gut-Behrami from Switzerland.