The blue-yellow speed skier was the fastest of all in the last training session and had high hopes for Sunday's World Championship downhill. However, at the start of the race, he didn't find the right lines at all. Felix Monsén drove up, but the 30-year-old had to settle for 16th place and was 1.64 seconds behind the winner Franjo von Allmen, Switzerland.
A mistake at the start was too costly.
"Cost me the whole competition"
It's probably what cost me the whole competition, really. I think I could have been top ten if I had just kept calm, says Monsén, who earlier in the week finished 20th in super-G, to Radiosporten.
The speed skier didn't make the national team for the season and has made his own effort.
I'm super proud of myself and my team for getting this far without any resources at all. All other teams put millions of kronor into developing a speed suit. We have two video cameras and no timing. We do it for the passion and it's awesome that we get this far on that, says Monsén to the radio channel.
Switzerland has dominated the men's downhill this World Cup season with victories in four out of five competitions – plus five second places.
Took gold in World Championship debut
World Championship debutant Franjo von Allmen has accounted for three of the second places and has this winter won a World Cup super-G. Now the 23-year-old was the best when it mattered most in the downhill.
When he crossed the finish line, he was 24 hundredths of a second faster than home skier Vincent Kriechmayr, who won the World Championship downhill in 2021.
A time that no skier could beat. Kriechmayr finished second and Alexis Monney, Switzerland, took care of the bronze (+0.31).
Reigning downhill champion Marco Odermatt, Switzerland, won the World Championship gold in super-G earlier in the week, but finished fifth now.
