Svindal crashes as Fill claims World Cup win

FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup overall leader Aksel Lund Svindal was involved in a huge crash in the downhill in Kitzbuhel on as Peter Fill claimed a long-awaited victory.

The Streif downhill course on the Hahnenkamm mountain in Austria is regarded as the most dangerous on the World Cup calendar and Saturday's proceedings provided clear evidence as to why.

Svindal - who leads Marcel Hirscher in the overall standings by 107 points - misjudged a turn and was sent spinning through the air and into the barriers. The Norwegian was able get up under his own power and was seen to have only suffered a bloody nose and bruising.

Home hope Hannes Reichelt crashed in markedly similar fashion but at a higher speed and both he and compatriot Georg Streitberger were taken from the course by helicopter.

Of those who did finish the course it was Fill who produced the best performance - claiming his first World Cup win since the Lake Louise downhill in November 2008.

He ended a run of 2,611 days without a World Cup triumph by sealing the maximum 100 points with a time of one minute and 52.37 seconds.

Switzerland's Beat Feuz missed out by just 0.37 seconds as he was left to settle for second, his countryman Carlo Janka was 0.65 seconds off the pace in third.

France's Johan Clarey was fourth ahead of another Swiss in the form of Marc Gisin.

Kjetil Jansrud - fourth in the overall standings and seeking his third win of the season - could only manage 14th place.