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Split second skiers

December 29, 2012

In the closest ever finish to a downhill ski race, two skiers have tied for first place. The next two finished within a tenth of a second.

https://p.dw.com/p/17BCg
Hannes Reichelt of Austria joint winner of the men's downhill with Dominik Paris. (Photo: REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini)
Image: Reuters

There was a deadheat in the men's World Cup downhill in Bormio, Italy as Austrian skier Hannes Reichelt and Italian Dominik Paris shared the win. They both clocked 1min 58.62 seconds.

Third-place in Saturday's race went to overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, one-hundredth of a second slower with Austrian Klaus Kroell a further 0.01 seconds behind him.

The Stelvio course is considered one of the most physically demanding on the World Cup circuit.

Paris took the early lead on to take his first win: "There's a lot of emotion," he said following the race. "My dream has always been to be among the best in downhill and today that's come true.

"On a hill as tough as this to have a race that close, that's surprising," said Svindal. "The crazy thing is we were fast in different sections."

The last deadheat in a downhill was in Kitzbuehel, Austria in 1978. Then, Germany's Sepp Ferstl and Austria's Sepp Walcher were inseparable.

jm/jlw (AFP, Reuters)