KITZBUEHEL, AUSTRIA— Matthias Mayer finally managed to get over last season’s horrifying downhill crash, giving the host country a winning start to the traditional Hahnenkamm races Friday.
The Olympic downhill champion wore a protective air bag system but still broke two vertebrae as his body slammed on an ice slope in Italy 13 months ago.
“When I returned this season, the crash was still in my head,” Mayer said. “I didn’t dare to race to the fullest. Today was the first time that those thoughts were not there. Itap a huge step forward for me.”
On a fast course where racers reached speeds of up to 87 mph, Mayer’s gutsy run of 1 minute, 11.25 seconds defeated Christof Innerhofer of Italy by 0.09 seconds. Beat Feuz of Switzerland was 0.44 behind in third.
In the final super-G before next month’s world championships, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde missed the podium by 0.02 seconds in fourth. Norwegian teammate Aksel Lund Svindal, who won the race last year, underwent knee surgery this week and has ended his season.
The win was Mayer’s fourth, but the first since he won two races in February 2015.
“I just like home races,” he said. “Itap cool to race in Kitzbuehel, with this weather and all my fans watching. I wasn’t skiing clean from top to bottom, but you can’t do that in a super-G anyway.”
No Austrian skier won the opening race of the prestigious event since Klaus Kroell in 2009. Mayer came close twice before as he finished runner-up to Svindal in 2013, and was beaten for the victory by Dominik Paris of Italy two years later.
