In an exciting race, Beat Feuz won the gold medal, confirming his dominance of the discipline in the last seasons. He mastered a tricky "Rock" racecourse with manmade dry and grippy snow that had never been raced before.
The 34-year-old has been the best and, above all, the most constant Downhill skier in the World Cup for years. He claimed 45 World Cup podiums, 13 wins, in the Downhill. He has won the Downhill Crystal Globe in each of the last four World Cup seasons. He became the second male skier to win four successive Downhill titles, after Franz Klammer from 1974-1975 to 1977-1978.
He won World Championships gold in St. Moritz in 2017 and triumphed three times each in the great classics in Wengen and Kitzbühel.
Now he crowns his outstanding career with a victory in the Olympic Downhill.
It is her third Olympic medal after winning silver in Super-G and bronze in Downhill at Pyeongchang 2018.
Beat Feuz is the fourth Downhill Olympic Champion from Switzerland after Bernhard Russi (1972), Pirmin Zurbriggen (1988), and Didier Defago (2010).
“It was a close race, a difficult one. I can't believe I won. My whole career went through my head, all the highs, and lows. In 2013 my knee was injured (The Inflammation in his left knee kept him under medical observation keeping him off the World Cup during the 2012-2013 season), I didn't know if I would come back again. Now I'm standing here with all these titles. I definitely don't take that for granted. In the light of the triumph, one also remembers the more shadowy phases of the career, one should never forget that", said Feuz.
Feuz later described this "most beautiful moment as one of the coolest in my career. A dream came true. I was able again to ski really well in Kitzbühel, which gave me a boost and the confidence".
Beat Feuz was joined on the podium by 41-years-old Johan Clarey who finished just 0.10 seconds off the lead. The French celebrated the greatest success of his career with Olympic silver. Clarey becomes the oldest man to win an Olympic medal in alpine ski racing.
"I have to calm down a little and think about what I did but it's just unbelievable. I know it was a perfect record for me. I knew I had a good run but you never know in the Downhill if you are fast or not. I was pushing, pushing, taking a lot of risks. I knew I only had one chance left in my career to get a medal in the Olympics", said Clarey.
A silver medal here is just fantastic. It's just hard to realize what I've just done. If someone had told me this morning, I wouldn't have believed it", he added.
Matthias Mayer of Austria completed the podium in third at +0.16 seconds for his third Olympic medal. Eight years after gold in Sochi, Matthias Mayer has achieved his second Olympic medal in the discipline.
"It's great, what can I say. It feels cool now. Great run. Unfortunately, I lost time at the top. But mourning it doesn't help. It was an exciting race. I have to congratulate Beat and Johan. I'm happy with bronze too", said Mayer.
