Austrian skier Kriechmayr wins classic downhill in Kitzbühel

KITZBÜHEL, Austria (AP) — Vincent Kriechmayr won the first of two downhills on the classic Streif course. Fellow pre-race favorites Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Marco Odermatt only narrowly avoided high-speed crashes. Kriechmayr mastered the demanding course in cloudy conditions as the world champion from Austria sped to his third win of the season and 15th overall. Kriechmayr said he “took a lot of risks. I was not without mistakes but the risks paid off.” The skies over the middle of the course cleared during the race and late starters benefited from improved visibility. Florian Schieder with bib No. 43 finished second. Swiss skier Niels Hintermann was third and American Jared Goldberg fourth.