Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde topped Wednesday’s opening training run for the famed men’s World Cup downhill in Kitzbuehel.
In perfect sunny conditions, the in-form Norwegian clocked 1min 56.54sec down the testing Streif piste, widely regarded as the toughest on the World Cup circuit.
Covid-19 restrictions mean only 1,000 fans are allowed to attend what is usually a raucous event that attracts tens of thousands.
Italian Matteo Marsaglia and Austrian Matthias Mayer were joint second fastest down, at 0.22sec.
Swiss racer Beat Feuz, who won last season’s two downhills in the Austrian resort, was 1.58sec off the pace.
Kilde’s rival in the overall standings, Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, looked comfortable, just ahead of his teammate Feuz.
There was one casualty on the notoriously difficult Hahnenkamm mountain, Germany’s Josef Ferstl, a super-G winner in Kitzbuehel in 2019, crashing out high up the course.
He was evacuated by helicopter as a precaution with what was described as a cut nose.
Retired Austrian legend Marcel Hirscher was a surprise forerunner on the course, one of four normally younger racers who ski the course before the field itself moves to the startgate.
“It’s getting serious. Time to ride the Streif,” he said on social media.
The 32-year-old, a double gold medallist at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics in the giant slalom and combined, retired a year later.
During a stellar World Cup career in which he won eight overall titles, Hirscher won 67 races, but never a downhill.
Indeed, his only previous outings on the Streif were as part of a combined event, never a stand-alone downhill.
Skiers have a second training run scheduled for Thursday, with downhill races programmed for Friday and Sunday, the latter exchanged with the slalom, which will now be held on Saturday.
The change was made with heavy snow and wind forecast for the coming days.
Organisers ruled out any pushover into Monday as skiers start leaving for the February 4-20 Olympics in Beijing.
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