Beat Feuz struck back in his season-long rivalry with Dominik Paris to win a World Cup downhill on Saturday.
Switzerland’s best downhiller showed his mastery of the Alpine nation’s most storied event to win the Lauberhorn race for a third time, matching the record of Austrian great Franz Klammer.
Feuz finished 0.29 seconds ahead of Italy’s Paris down a shorter 2.95-kilometer (1 4/5-mile) course that started lower down the mountain due to overnight snowfall.
Switzerland's Beat Feuz in action during the men's downhill race run at the Alpine Skiing FIS Ski World Cup in Wengen, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020. (Marcel BieriKeystone via AP)
Thomas Dressen of Germany was third, 0.31 behind Feuz. That completed a podium of the only winners of the five World Cup downhills so far this season.
Feuz also won at Beaver Creek, Colorado, and was runner-up and third when Paris swept both races at Bormio, Italy, last month.
Earning 100 points for the win, Feuz retook the World Cup downhill standings lead from Paris by just 16 points. They are almost 200 clear of Dressen in third.
Italy's Dominik Paris reacts as he crosses the finish line during an alpine ski, World Cup men's downhill in Wengen, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020. (AP PhotoMarco Tacca)
Feuz also won on the Lauberhorn in 2012 and 2018, and has two more runner-up finishes here. Klammer won three straight at Wengen from 1975-77.
The result was unofficial because lower-ranked skiers were still racing.
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Italy's Dominik Paris competes during an alpine ski, World Cup men's downhill in Wengen, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020. (AP PhotoGabriele Facciotti)
United States' Ryan Cochran Siegle competes during an alpine ski, World Cup men's downhill in Wengen, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020. (AP PhotoGabriele Facciotti)