The ÖSV speed specialists are hoping for a good start on today’s descent on the pimple-hard, icy Pista Stelvio in Bormio (11.30 a.m.). After the disappointing results in the downhill runs in Val Gardena, Vincent Kriechmayr and Co. have a lot to make up for. ÖSV men’s boss Marko Pfeifer also sees it that way. He recently also criticized speed coach Sepp Brunner.
“I demand that the downhill riders and Sepp do a little more,” said the Carinthian last week. In Val Gardena, Stefan Babinsky was the best ÖSV man in sixth place in the first downhill run, and in the second downhill, Marco Schwarz, a long-time slalom specialist who drove on this route for the first year, was the fastest Austrian in ninth place. Kriechmayr missed the top ten each time, Daniel Hemetsberger failed to make it into the top 15 twice.
In training for today’s downhill run, there were at least signs of the ÖSV catching up. With Hemetsberger (5th) and Schwarz (7th), two Austrians ended up in the top ten, while 24-year-old Salzburg’s Stefan Rieser came in eleventh for the first World Cup race of his career. And Kriechmayr? The Mühlviertler showed a good performance in the first sectors, but at the end he slowed down and unobtrusively placed himself in 36th place in the results list.
“Imagined worse”
This year it seems as if the Stelvio has pulled out its sharpest teeth. “The course setting is more fluid. A bit tamed, but it won’t be easy towards the race,” said Kriechmayr, who won the downhill in Bormio last year. “I imagined it would be worse by far,” said Schwarz, who is starting in Bormio for the first time this year and wants to “attack well” in both today’s downhill and in the Super-G on Friday.
Marco Odermatt, his toughest rival in the fight for the overall World Cup, unpacked new material during training yesterday. The Swiss achieved the ninth fastest time. With the fastest time, the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde underlined his role as favorite.
A year ago in Bormio it wasn’t the winner Kriechmayr who made the biggest headlines, but rather his teammate Matthias Mayer. He announced the end of his career immediately before the race. Now the Carinthian is back – as an advisor to the ÖSV team.
