Aksel Lund Svindal pushed it to the limit to take his 25th World Cup career win in the Bormio Downhill. Svindal is the twelfth man in history to accomplish this feat and with it becomes the first man this season to win four races, further strengthening ... his lead in the race for the Overall. Hannes Reichelt could not quite match his win from the year before but still took second just ahead of Erik Guay. With his third place, Guay becomes the second most successful Canadian in terms of trips to the podium with 15, Steve Podborski is ahead on 20.
The Bormio Downhill is one of the impressive downhills: It has large jumps; fast turns and is hard on the legs. After the race Svindal explained: “Bormio is a tough race. Usually it is decided on the last section; when everyone is tired you have to try and push that bit extra. The top part this year was bumpy and soft so it was quite hard to be precise in those conditions and Bormio is a slope that is as tough as the conditions make it. It might not be as spectacular as some of the January Classics but it can sure be as tough.”
It was the last section where Svindal won the race. He had been in touch with Erik Guay, who lead in the finish, yet Svindal eked out every bit of speed in the run in to the finish from his HEAD's and crossed the line half a second ahead of Guay. Hannes Reichelt split the two, further benefitting Svindal in his race for the Downhill Globe.
So how does a man of Svindal's calibre rest between the World Cup races? Svindal plans to head south and go windsurfing! “I am going south to get some windsurfing done and relax on the beach for four days over New Year's. I want to have some fun before the World Cup continues in January. It's healthy for me to walk barefoot on the beach and relax a bit after being in the cold all the time.”
With Svindal's win, he denied the Austrian's their last chance of a win in 2013. Their Men's Downhill team have failed to win a single World Cup downhill in 2013, how they must be looking forward to 2014! For Reichelt, this was his third podium of the season, the most of all the racers and yet he still has to stand on the top step this season.
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