03.12.2008 - 11:56 h

Fill takes flight in Lake Louise

Lake Louise - Peter Fill managed his first ever World Cup victory on Canada’s Lake Louise Downhill in an eventful race that saw a nail biting finish, with some very surprising results late on.

The 26-year-old said: "It is a small surprise even though I did reach a podium here a few years ago. I think I was really lucky, first because the conditions were pretty good when I skied and I achieved a flawless run and I was also lucky that the Swiss guy didn't beat me after having clocked the fastest intermediate time. He could have easily beaten me today so to win it by 8/100 you need luck."
Fill had collected a total of seven World Cup podiums prior to this race and after a disappointing season last winter that saw him collect only five top ten finishes, it was the perfect comeback.
"It was my season goal to win a world cup race after having collected so many podium finishes so I don’t know what I have to fight for now - maybe a top position in the Overall World Cup standings, which is my all time biggest goal."

He added:

"It is too bad that Denise (Karbon) didn’t manage to win her race in Aspen because it would have been a great day for our family.”

The most surprising result of the day was most definitely, though, Carlo Janka's second place. The Swiss athlete had only previously managed an 18th place in downhill in the race at Kvitfjell towards the end of last season. This result in Lake Louise was even more surprising considering he started with bib number 65! "Today my main goal was to score a few world cup points and eventually to finish inside the top 20 but when I entered the start tent I saw that the weather was clearing up and this gave me confidence and determination. It is definitely a huge achievement for me.”.

Source: Official Website of the Fédération Internationale de Ski ("FIS"), The International Ski Federation.



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