Kitzbühel, men’s downhill 2

Kristian Ghedina jumps into a better future.

Kitzbühel, Austria.Two former Hahnenkamm winners fought with special passion in today’s thrilling competition and tried hard to achieve a remarkable performance in what could be their last start on the legendary “Streif” course. Both succeeded despite taking two opposite directions.

Austria’s veteran Stephan Eberharter, a winner in 2002, finished the race again as a superb champion. He beat his toughest rival, America’s Daron Rahlves by an amazing margin of 1,21 seconds, after an almost perfect run. At nearly 35 years, the Tyrolian became the oldest Hahnenkamm winner and he took over the lead in the downhill World Cup standings. At the end of this season, the defending overall World Cup champion may retire after having reached all his goals.

Italy’s Kristian Ghedina, who triumphed in 1998, chose another way to impress the crowd and leave his mark in the history of the Austrian “Classic”. On the last jump, situated a few meters before the finish line, the 34-year-old made a gutsy jump known as “spread eagle” as he spread out his legs while cruising at 135 km/h in the air. He received huge applause from the spectators as he landed gracefully and immediately became the other hero of the race.

The video of his unique stunt made headlines later on in the evening on all the TV stations around Europe, returning him to prominence in his country after being in the shadow of his team-mates for several years.

Ironically, the skier from Cortina d’Ampezzo found out that he has been much faster than expected as he checked the results board after his arrival. In fact, his 6th place may convince him to continue his career as he recovered his position among the elite of the sport after struggling for the past few seasons because of a series of health problems.

“My season start has been quite disappointing so far and I imagined that I had to do something special today, I thought it could well be my last run here,” he told the Italian media after his exhibition. “I’m not sure I would have done it had I known I could reach the podium. The time I lost doing this could have put me in 3rd or 4th place!”

Ghedina had already performed the same kind of show two years ago in Val Gardena so he had some practice. “I guess people enjoyed it a lot which is what I wanted,” he explained. “But now, I’m not sure anymore that I will end my career this spring. I’m still having much fun and if I get back in shape, I may continue as long I remain in the first seed.”

“Originally, I aimed to compete at the 2005 Worlds at Bormio and the 2006 Olympics in Turin but I injured myself too often recently and I lost my momentum,” Kristian added. “It’s annoying to be obliged to spend so much time healing instead of training hard and winning races. I reached one of my dreams in becoming the first Italian to win the downhill here and I strongly hoped to capture the downhill title once. My best years are over, yet I still feel much fire in me. Downhill racing is incredibly fascinating, especially when you compete on such a demanding slope in front of thousands of crazy spectators.”

A 12-time-winner on the World Cup tour, Ghedina also got a downhill bronze medal in 1996 in Sierra Nevada but always failed to grab a Crystal globe in his specialty. He was 2nd three times and 3rdonce. The perspective to achieve his swan song in front of his fans in Italy kept him motivated year after year. But his energy faded this winter and he was ready to give up his last battle. Fortunately, at the verge of shutting the door behind him in Kitzbühel, Ghedina again believes in his potetnail and he is now ready to continue his battle for his holy grail of skiing.

PL