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Dominik Schwaiger
Photo: Felice Calabro / dpa
Ski racer Dominik Schwaiger achieved the best speed result of his career at the Downhill World Cup in Bormio.
When the South Tyrolean Dominik Paris won, the 30-year-old from WSV Königssee raced to fifth place on Tuesday, cracking the national standard for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt from Switzerland came in second, 0.24 seconds back, followed by compatriot Niels Hintermann (+0.80 seconds).
Before that, Schwaiger, who specializes in downhill and Super-G, had first achieved a better result in the World Cup - six years earlier, with a surprising fourth place in the parallel giant slalom in Alta Badia.
"I had a great feeling and fought to the goal," said Schwaiger after his run on the ARD and was overjoyed - "although I screwed up a bit".
Five drivers for four starting positions
Schwaiger was not alone with his difficulties on the notorious, particularly steep and icy Stelvio slope.
Compared to the other DSV starters, he had by far the fewest problems: Josef Ferstl took 16th place, the World Cup runners-up Romed Baumann and Andreas Sander finished 22nd and 28th. Simon Jocher retired after a driving error.
For the Olympic Games, the DSV now has a luxury problem: With only four starting positions in the speed disciplines, all five athletes are pre-qualified.
"Then we'll just do it Schnick, Schnack, Schnuck who goes along," joked Schwaiger.
cev / dpa