In what proved to be a tight affair, Hannes Reichelt took the victory in a time of 1min 11:90sec, 0.01 ahead of compatriot Romed Baumann, while Matthias Mayer was third.

As well as having all of the top three positions, Austria had six athletes in the top nine as they kept up their momentum from the previous week's monopoly of the podium on home snow at Saalbach.

Recently crowned world champion Patrick Kueng of Switzerland could only finish 12th on what was a poor day for the 31-year-old.

The women's competition, due to be held at the Bulgarian resort of Bankso, had to be cancelled for the second day running owing to poor weather conditions.

"The conditions weren't easy, but they were still good when we started the race," International Ski Federation chief race director Atle Skaardal said.

"But after an already long interruption it was clear that the visibility would not improve, reason why we had to call it a day."

Fortunately, the men's competition went ahead as the eagerly-anticipated downhill event gave the good crowd in attendance plenty of excitement, although it was delayed several times due to the difficult weather.

This, however, did not phase Reichelt, who remained composed to deliver a superb run that gave him his second downhill triumph of the season.

The result in Germany gave Austria their second consecutive podium sweep as Reichelt edged out teammates Baumann and Mayer ©Getty Images



"This is great because the Kandahar is a classic downhill course," he said.

"Today from the half start it was a close race - I think less than one second separated the top 30 - so you really had to be fast to get the victory.

"I'm happy that we were able to race because it's really important for our sport."

It also proved to be a successful outing for Baumann, who claimed his first podium place for almost three years, while Mayer, who came into the race in Germany off the back of two successive victories, struggled with illness and fatigue on his way to finishing third.

"I'm happy with my third place because today it wasn't easy for me," Mayer said.

"I'm a little bit sick and tired.

"We couldn't have imagined that earlier in the season.

"Three Austrians on the podium, yeah, couldn't be better."

The action is due to continue at Garmisch-Partenkirchen tomorrow with the men's giant slalom competition.

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