Reichelt, Paris share honours in closest downhill ever

BORMIO, Italy (AFP) –

Austria’s Hannes Reichelt competes during the men’s World Cup downhill in Bormio, Italy, on December 29, 2012. Reichelt of Austria and Dominik Paris of Italy deadheated to share the win in the men’s World Cup downhill on Saturday.

Hannes Reichelt of Austria and Dominik Paris of Italy deadheated to share the win in the men’s World Cup downhill here on Saturday.

In what was the closest downhill in history, third-place went to overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, one-hundredth of a second off the Reichelt and Paris time.

Austrian Klaus Kroell finished fourth, incredibly just a further 0.01sec adrift.

Paris and Reichelt both clocked 1min 58.62sec, the Italian registering his first-ever victory on the World Cup circuit, while it was a sixth win for the Austrian.

“There’s a lot of emotion,” said Paris. “My dream has always been to be among the best in downhill anmd today that’s come true.

“I pushed from the start to the finish because that’s the only way to succeed on this slope.”

The last downhill race to finish in a tie was the second 1978 downhill in Kitzbuehel, won by Austrian Sepp Walcher and Germany’s Sepp Ferstl.