Men’s Alpine Skiing World Cup successfully finished the tour in Asia and continued in Chamonix. The small town in France hosted the races for the first time since 2012. After Alpine Combined race on Friday, the downhill on Saturday was second and last of the races that Chamonix had to offer.

After yesterday’s second place in Alpine Combined, Dominik Paris was one of the heavy favorites for the win in the downhill today and he did not disappoint. It was the 26-year-old’s first win of the season and fifth in his career. The Italian, wearing bib 17, skied a near-perfect run and came into the finish area with a green light, 0.35 seconds ahead on then-leading Steven Nyman.

It was also a good day for Nyman. The 34-year-old’s season started pretty poorly, with him only scoring one Top 10 result since March 2015. However, Nyman’s form has been moving upwards, proving with two podiums already in this February. After the third place in Jeongseon downhill, he took his result even a step higher and finished on second place, just 0.04 seconds in front of third-ranked Beat Feuz.

Despite missing the early part of the season and only coming back in January, Feuz has been proving his form ever since his first race back in the circuit. After the initial 11th place, he proceeded to ski himself to exclusively Top 5 results in the following four downhill races. The only thing really missing from Feuz’s repertoire this season is a win, that has been escaping him for tiny parts of seconds in every race since his return. But Feuz still has two chances in the remainder of the season with Kvitfjell and St. Moritz downhills.

Guillermo Fayed can be happy satisfied with his performance today. Despite failing to get on the podium, he achieved a nice fourth position. That was a nice gift from a 30-year-old Frenchman to his loyal fans who were cheering him on. He was definitely a crowd favorite today as his hometown actually is Chamonix.

Fifth place was taken by Peter Fill, who is slowly becoming the biggest contender for taking away the downhill globe. He is currently ranked on the second position, but the leader Aksel Lund Svindal is injured and will not be able to race until the end of the season. With two downhills to go, it seems impossible for Fill not to pass Svindal, who he is only trailing by 26 points. However, the biggest task for Fill seems keeping the lead away for Adrien Theaux and Kjetil Jansrud, who are ranked third and fourth respectively, and only around 70 points behind the experienced Italian. Paris and Fayed are not far either, as they earned some valuable points against Fill in the race today.

Jansrud, reigning downhill champion of the last season, was left way behind the race winners. He has been very inconsistent this season. After winning in Jeongseon two weeks ago, he did not seem to carry the form back into Europe, as he managed to come into the finish area with only 21st time. This result may really hurt him in the long run in the chase for second consecutive downhill globe.

The race today was also positive for Team Canada, as they managed to get two racers in the Top 10, after quite a streak of mediocre results. The team has been dealing with a lot of injuries in the past, but it seems like they could slowly get back to the top, especially with Erik Guay leading the way.

Chamonix Downhill Results:

1. Dominik Paris (ITA) – 1:58.38
2. Steven Nyman (USA) – +0.35
3. Beat Feuz (SUI) – +0.39
4. Guillermo Fayed (FRA) – +0.80
5. Peter Fill (ITA) – +0.89

Alpine World Cup Men Downhill Standings (9/11)

1. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR) – 436 points
2. Peter Fill (ITA) – 410 points
3. Adrien Theaux (FRA) – 341 points
4. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR) – 337 points
5. Dominik Paris (ITA) – 332 points