Austrian Klaus Kroell made it two from two when he won the men’s World Cup downhill in Norway on Saturday for his sixth career victory and took the lead in the discipline’s overall standings.

The 31-year-old, who was joint winner of the super-G race on Friday alongside Beat Feuz, clocked 1min 45.76sec to finish just two-hundredths ahead of Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud, with another local, Aksel Lund Svindal, in third at 0.48sec.

Kroell’s third success of the season saw him leapfrog Swiss veteran Didier Cuche in the downhill standings. Cuche had a nightmare and finished 1.32sec adrift of the winner, dimming his chances of landing a fifth crystal globe in the discipline.

“It is truly a notable step forward for me,” beamed Kroell.

“It is the first time that I will wear the red jersey of a leader in a World Cup category.

“There is no better motivation for me now than to attack the World Cup finals at home!” added Kroell referring to the finals which take place at Schladming later this month.

Swiss skier Feuz extended his lead in the World Cup overall standings as he finished a creditable fourth, and has an advantage of over 50 points ahead of Austrian Marcel Hircher, who skipped this weekend’s races as he is more specialist in the technical rather than speed-oriented events.

Feuz has a chance to add to that lead in Sunday’s super-G before Hirscher returns to the fray at Kranjska Gora next week.