Beat Feuz wins in Wengen
Beat Feuz proved the great Bernhard Russi wrong in saying that he could not do the same type of run again after having won the Downhill section of the Super Combined and then won the Lauberhorn Classic itself. The young Swiss racer is on fire at the moment and this was the third Swiss win in Wengen in four years. The only surprising thing about this is that Didier Cuche is not one of the winners! Hannes Reichelt took second with Christof Innerhofer taking third and Carlo Janka, winner four years ago, fourth and Bode Miller fifth.
In almost perfect conditions the race got off to a subdued start. No one expected the time of thirty two year old Hannes Reichelt to stay at the top of the times for very long. But as the race unravelled his time stood as the best. The question of when was the last racer to win from start number one in the downhill kept being asked and when he stayed in the lead to the first TV break after 15 runners, this was starting to get serious.
Feuz, starting 16, soon put the Swiss fans to rest as the fabled green light started showing down the course for him. Feuz skied a tight and fast light and grabbed the lead from the Austrian by 0.44 seconds. Did the fans go wild? They went crazy. Winning is one thing but when the lead was held by an Austrian and then one of your own takes it, they went crazy! It was a sea of red with white crosses along the line at the finish. Feuz collapsed next to the finish barriers – he had left everything on the course.
While the Swiss went crazy with Feuz leading, Cuche was on course yet it was not going to be his day as the gap got greater and great at each split. Cuche would eventually finish in 15th spot and while his adoring crowd waited for the customary flick of the ski, the dismay was written across his face.
From bib 22, Miller blasted out of the start and started to scare the Swiss. It was nip and tuck with the time set by Feuz all the way down the course. Through the Super G turns, Miller tried to take a too attacking line and lost a heap of time. The challenge was over for him for another year and although he managed to grab fifth, this is the type of racer that goes for the win and not the minor places. It had been close and the rest knew it.
So Feuz takes the win and the Swiss speed team will roll on to Kitzbuehel next week with their heads held high. For the Austrians, had it not been for Reichelt taking second, the knives would be out even more. They like the speed races the Austrians and being beaten by the enemy is something that hurts. It is not uncommon for the Swiss to do the double (Defago did it in 2009).
Reichelt described his feeling as a wonderful feeling to be on the podium; it is something that you dream of as a child. “I had a few mistakes on the run but this is still a great feeling,” he explained. Reichelt was advised by his coaches to concentrate on the Super G and Giant Slalom. Last year he was not even qualified for the Austrian Downhill team so this is a great feeling he admitted.
For Christof Innerhofer this was a result that very nearly did not happen. After Bormio, the Italian decided to take time off and see if he could get the feeling back. Things did not feel that good and the feeling was very much as though he should look at taking injury status for the season. How things change!
Two hours after winning the Lauberhorn, Feuz was still amazed by the feeling of winning on the longest and hardest course. What was his secret to winning? “I just try to stay relaxed and do what I normally do,” explained the winner of the 2012 Lauberhorn! Where did he feel that he had won the race: “I think it was the line that I took coming out of the Haneggschuss where I won it. I was a little straighter and from this line I missed a lot of the bumps.”
Feuz won the junior World Title four years ago and since then he has also been suffering for two and half years with injury and then worked hard on his technique to fight his way back on to the world cup. It was this work that Feuz believed has helped him to win on the world cup.
This season Feuz has had six podiums and yet at the beginning of the season all he wanted to do was to continue having the results that he had last season.
