News : Ski World Cup: Andreas Sander is racing downhill to silver – sport
Andreas Sander brought about the next German coup at the Alpine Ski World Cup. The 31-year-old Westphalian took second place on the downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo, passing gold by just a hundredth of a second.
As in the Super-G, the title went to Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr, bronze went to Swiss Beat Feuz, 2017 world champion.
“It’s sensational, I don’t even know what to say,” said Sander on ARD: “I never expected to pick up a medal here.” Sander won gold in Super-G at the Junior World Championships 13 years ago, but never made it to the podium in the World Cup. His best results were three fifth places, most recently on the downhill run on the Streif in Kitzbühel.
Romed Baumann falls in the target area and is slightly injured
For the German team it is already the third completely surprising silver medal at this World Cup. Previously, Romed Baumann (Super-G) and Kira Weidle (Downhill) had also just missed gold. The Sander, who had already started with number two, was missing the equivalent of 27 centimeters at the end of the 2610-meter-long slope from Kriechmayr, who had started first.
The Austrian is the third ski racer after Hermann Maier (Austria / 1999) and Bode Miller (USA / 2005), who won both speed races at a World Cup.
The other German starters could not place in the top ten. Baumann fell after his drive at the finish, but suffered only bloody cuts to his nose and lip. He finished 14th. Thomas Dreßen finished 18th in his first race after 344 days and a hip operation on November 27th. Dominik Schwaiger finished 22nd.
