2024-02-03 23:30:00
In exactly one year the time will come: on February 4, 2025, the first training session will take place at the Alpine Ski World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. So 365 days until the second World Cup in Glemmtal. The first one was 33 years ago and was one of the most memorable ever due to many details. It is all the more fitting that the legends of the World Cup returned once more on the “anniversary” before the World Cup.
It was like a class reunion. How else? “I really haven’t seen some of them here for 30 years,” said Petra Kronberger, who wrote one of the unforgettable chapters at her home World Cup with World Cup gold in the downhill. And yet: Sometimes recognition flashes more quickly, for example when Helmut Höflehner, Peter Wirnsberger or Erwin Resch or Anita Wachter and Kronberger arrive. Sometimes recognition takes longer, but it comes. Just like the memories of a special World Cup.
A memorial stone on the Zwölferkogel points to Uli Maier. She also gave the women’s World Cup slope its name. And Gernot Reinstadler, who died a week before the 1991 World Cup, and world champion Rudi Nierlich were also remembered. © APA/Expa/Groder
Hans Pum was the men’s head coach at the time – and he can best describe what was going on back then. A week earlier, following Gernot Reinstadler’s fall in the finish S in Wengen, he had held his head while receiving first aid. He was one of the last to see his eyes, as the Pitztaler died as a result of a severed artery. The team had to deal with the grief just days before the climax. “It’s still a mystery to me,” says colleague Höflehner, “to this day how we managed to deliver all of this once more a week later.”
Then the trip to Saalbach, the trembling regarding the World Cup – due to the Gulf War that was starting at that time, it was regarding to be canceled, only a guarantee from the gendarmerie to specifically protect the US team made the start possible, without an opening ceremony at the time, but at the time with a lot, lots of sun shine. And special successes: such as that of Stephan Eberharter, who was crowned double world champion as a “young boy”. “Steph,” says Pum, “was already a fox back then. When everyone else wanted to rest, he practiced with the accordion during the day.” Or the legendary Rudi Nierlich, who sat on the seat of his pants in a race a few goals before the finish and then went on to win gold. Why does it remain an unforgettable World Cup for Pum? “Because the evening before the combined departure I got the call that my wife was giving birth to our child. I drove home, was there for the birth of my son – and once more at the World Cup at lunchtime.”
Failure following three corners
Helmut Höflehner has to tell the painful story of his misfortune once more and once more: the one when, following starting as the big favorite, he faltered during his first skating steps; and retired following three corners. “At that moment you want to bury yourself. To this day I still get asked regarding it very often. Although: I can understand it, people sometimes take the day off to be there. And then they don’t get what they hoped for from the athletes.”
This did not apply to the World Cup in Saalbach. Not only did it meet expectations, it exceeded all hopes. The Pinzgau has set itself the bar high for the second World Cup in 2025. But: “We are on schedule, and in some cases even ahead of it,” said Florian Phleps, who is responsible for the World Cup for the ÖSV. Official ticket sales start just a year before the World Cup, initially only with combination tickets for the entire World Cup or the speed or technology events (www.saalbach2025.com).
The desire for the World Cup with the most spectators
The goals are high: there are 15,000 places around the finish bag at the World Cup. “We know that we don’t want to become the Alpine World Championships with the most spectators in history,” says Phleps, “but we have set ourselves the goal of becoming the first World Championships to sell out every race.”
Sport is on track. Bartl Gensbichler, the Hinterglemmer “Mr. Sport” of this World Cup, explains: “We might start the World Cup tomorrow.” The two slopes are ready.” They will then be tested at the World Cup final, and then the new “Uli Maier slope” for women in particular will experience its baptism of fire. This is supposed to start in six weeks – the only question mark: the (warm) weather. “At the moment everything is fine, if we get clear, cold nights once more, there shouldn’t be a problem,” says Gensbichler.
The credo of the World Cup remains: the sport and the athletes should be in the foreground; but also the environment. A lot of work has been done to guide the expected crowds of visitors in 2025, every admission ticket is also a ticket for public transport in Salzburg, and solutions are being worked on with the ÖBB for long-distance transport. No problem: enough “volunteers” have registered, there are already 1,973 registered people, around 1,400 are needed.
And yes, there are also improvements in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. An “emergency route” for emergency organizations, for example, which will serve as a cycle and footpath for tourism following the World Cup. And Hinterglemmer Dorfstrasse will be barrier-free.
Back to the rendezvous between past and present: The sun is shining on the World Cup piste on Saturday, the “legends” are teaming up with the young skiers to run a race for a good cause. And double world champion Stephan Eberharter put it best when asked how much the 1991 World Cup changed his life: “It is time that changes us. Not necessarily the events. Even though Saalbach had a great influence on my life, the successes as well as the difficult times shaped me.”
Stephan Eberharter at the legend race © GEPA pictures
Petra Kronberger © APA / Expa/johann Groder
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