German speedster Thomas Dressen found the right line and won the 4th World Cup race of his career in a tight victory in front of his crowd.
Thomas Dressen takes his second World Cup win of the season in Garmisch-Partenkirchen followed by Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (+0.16) and Johan Clarey (+0.17).
Dressen's victory comes 28 years after the last German, Markus Wasmeier, won the decline in the German place.
He opened the race with bib 1 and skied a nearly perfect Downhill. Once he sat in the leader's seat, he never got up again. The German broke out in a cold sweat as top athletes like Beat Feuz, Aleksander Kilde and Vincent Kriechmayr tried to attack the first position through their performances. Thanks to a very fast last section however, no one was able to take the victory away from the German.
It's a dream come true for the guy from Mittenwald. In front of his own fans, it's a victory that means even more for Dressen.
"There are some parts on every course where I know I’m not able to gain any time, where it makes no sense for me to risk it there", said Dressen. "Today I tried to focus on the basics – what went wrong in Kitzbuehel, ski clean and have fun, knowing where I could be fast, and where I had to hang tight".
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) performed amazingly well, as he often did this season and closed in second place (+0.16s). The Norwegian was very fast in the middle section, but not fast enough through the last gates to claim the first victory of the season. Today's results grant Kilde the first Downhill podium of the season and the current second position in the overall standings.
Johan Clarey (FRA) is the third protagonist of the day. The 39-year-old French skier seems to get better with age and keeps up the momentum, finishing third, just 0.01s behind Kilde.
Today's race was the last Downhill for Peter Fill. "Skiing was my life for so many years, so it's very hard to say stop, but it feels like the right decision right now", he said on an emotional farewell. Fill says goodbye after 354 races, 22 podiums, and 3 World Cup victories. He also won a bronze medal (Super Combined) here in Garmisch in the World Ski Championships in 2011 and a silver one (Super-G) in Val d'Isere in 2009.
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