(LEAD) Norway's Jansrud wins first race at new S. Korean alpine course

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By Yoo Jee-ho

JEONGSEON, South Korea, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- Kjetil Jansrud of Norway won the men's downhill race at the 2016 International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine Skiing World Cup here on Saturday, enjoying his first downhill victory of the season on a brand new slope.

With the time of 1 minute 41.38 seconds, Jansrud beat Dominik Paris of Italy by 0.2 seconds to claim the first competitive race at the new Jeongseon Alpine Centre in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, some 200 kilometers east of Seoul. Steven Nyman of the United States finished third at 1:41.79.

Jeongseon will host alpine races at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, and is hosting its first World Cup as an Olympic test event.

Jansrud, the 2014 Olympic downhill bronze medalist, posted the fastest times in both training sessions earlier this week, and continued his good run in the official race.

"Coming into the season, I wasn't as confident as I was last year," Jansrud said. "There's been a lot of good skiing this season. I've been trying to ski better every day. I've had some issues and mistakes, and this is the first run of the season where I've skied without any mistakes."

Paris enjoyed his first podium finish of the season on what he described as "a fun course."

"I like the hill; it's pretty cool," he said. "There are a lot of jumps. It's not the longest but it's a good downhill."

Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, who has the most World Cup points in downhill this season, is missing after suffering a season-ending knee injury in a crash last month.

Other high-ranked skiers failed to take advantage of Svindal's absence. Italy's Peter Fill, second behind Svindal in the World Cup standings, finished fourth here at 1:41.85. No. 3-ranked Adrien Theaux of France finished eighth at 1:42.04.

Jansrud will go for his second title at Jeongseon on Sunday in Super-G. He's the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the discipline.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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