San Francisco Frontiers - Hintermann and Alexander share surprise Kvitfjell downhill win

Hintermann set the pace at 1min 44.42sec at the Norwegian resort and was joined on the top step of the podium by Alexander in a thrilling finish.

Austrian three-time Olympic champion Matthias Mayer, who defended his super-G title in Beijing last month, completed the top three.

It was a second World Cup triumph for the 26-year-old Hintermann, who won an alpine combined race in 2017 and came third in this season's downhills at Val Gardena and Bormio.

Alexander's success was all the more unexpected as he came into the event without any World Cup points this campaign. His previous best finish was 10th in Kvitfjell two years ago.

He suffered a serious knee injury a few months after that race and only returned to competition at the end of 2021.

Hintermann and Alexander, 24, were the first joint-winners of a men's World Cup race since Mayer and Vincent Kriechmayr in Are, Sweden, in 2018.

Norway's Kjetil Jansrud, the 2014 Olympic super-G champion, finished 45th in his penultimate race after announcing he will retire after Saturday's downhill.

Beat Feuz, the Beijing downhill gold medallist, took fourth just ahead of Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.

Norwegian Kilde leads the downhill standings by three points from Feuz with two races to go. Mayer is 28 points adrift in third.

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt is 346 points ahead of Kilde in the battle for the overall crystal globe following a 15th-place finish.

E.Jones--SFF