(Aspen) The first downhill in Aspen (Colorado) was canceled halfway through the race on Friday due to strong winds, preventing Norwegian Adrian Smiseth Sejersted, who had previously set the fastest time, from winning his first victory in the Alpine Skiing World Cup.
The frustration must be great for the 28-year-old skier, who thought he was holding his feat well. In eight seasons, he has only been on the podium twice, finishing second in the super-G in Val d’Isère then Bormio in 2020. A second descent awaits him on Saturday, for a possible “happy ending”.
He started first, when the sky was not really cloudy, and was the fastest, beating Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr by 26 hundredths and American Ryan Cochran Siegle by 60 hundredths. Times finally invalidated.
Highly anticipated, the two big names Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Marco Odermatt, did not play the leading roles. And for good reason: the wind was already blowing very hard when they set off.
The Norwegian, leader and holder of the small globe in the specialty, and the Swiss, who should, barring a cataclysm, keep the big globe overall, could only achieve the 6e and 14e time.
After their passages, the snow got mixed up in Eole, hardly helping the conditions and the race was stopped even before the 25e of the 59 competitors can take the start. A frustrating scenario for Sejersted, as it would have been enough for six additional skiers to finish their descent to validate his victory.