Aksel Lund Svindal won the Wengen men's World Cup downhill for the first time in his career on Saturday. The veteran Norwegian, second on Friday in the super-combined, produced a superb run in difficult conditions to clock 1min 48.79secs. That was 00.19secs ahead of last year's w
Aksel Lund Svindal won the Wengen men's World Cup downhill for the first time in his career on Saturday.
The veteran Norwegian, second on Friday in the super-combined, produced a superb run in difficult conditions to clock 1min 48.79secs.
That was 00.19secs ahead of last year's winner on the famous Lauberhorn piste, Hannes Reichelt of Austria, with another Austrian, Klaus Kroll, in third place a second and a half slower.
The 100 points for the win means that Svindal leapfrogged slalom king Marcel Hirscher atop the overall World Cup rankings.
The overall champion in 2007 and 2009, he now has 816 points to 801 for Hirscher, but the Austrian will likely rebound with the Wengen slalom on Sunday.
Svindal has now won four out of the five World Cup downhills contested this season, with the exception of Santa Caterina on December 29 which went to Frenchman Adrien Theaux.
