KVITFJELL, NORWAY—Bostjan Kline earned his first career World Cup victory on Friday in a men’s downhill, and Kjetil Jansrud finished third to move into the lead in the discipline standings.
Kline, a Slovenian skier who started fourth, finished 0.19 seconds ahead of 2014 Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer. Jansrud was one-hundredth of a second further back in a tight race in which the top 20 finishers were all within a second of the winning time.
The course was shortened because of strong wind. French skier Brice Roger crashed after landing from a jump but appeared to be unhurt.
Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., a silver medallist in the downhill at the recent world championships, was fourth in 1:29.45 while teammate Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Invermere, B.C., was fifth in 1:29.54. Ottawa’s Dustin Cook was 56th.
“It was a challenging course today and the conditions really changed in the past few days,” said Guay. “In a few places I skied well and in a few places I gave it away and any little mistake can cost you a lot here. I’m a little disappointed with a fourth-place. I’ve been there a lot and I would’ve liked a podium but I know the speed is there for tomorrow (super-G).”
Osborne-Paradis was pleased with his result.
“I love Kvitfjell and I needed to secure a spot for World Cup finals which I did today with this result,” he said.
Kline’s win continues a run of a different skier winning each men’s downhill race this season, including the world championships.
Jansrud, who is from Norway, was bidding to become the first man to win six World Cups in Kvitfjell. He now leads Peter Fill by 13 points in the downhill standings. The Italian lost the lead with a 16th-place finish.
With two races remaining this season, Jansrud could secure the discipline title in Saturday’s second downhill race in Kvitfjell.
Friday’s race was originally scheduled for Lake Louise in November, but was moved to Kvitfjell because of warm temperatures and a lack of snow in Canada.
This story has been corrected to show the French skier’s name is Brice Roger, not Roger Brice.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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