“Sure I’m mad.” Vincent Kriechmayr made no secret of the fact that he was not happy regarding fourth place in the Super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The Gramastettner was 0.64 seconds behind the Swiss ski dominator Marco Odermatt, who won ahead of Raphael Haaser (+0.30) and the Swiss surprise man Franjo von Allmen (+0.61). For Kriechmayr it was the fifth top ten place in a row, but it had not been enough for the podium since his Super-G victory in Val Gardena in mid-December.
On Saturday he finished fifth in the Super-G, just 0.32 behind the French winner Nils Allegre. That’s not enough for the demands of the two-time world champion from the Mühlviertel. “I came here with different expectations,” explained Kriechmayr, who, however, didn’t want to look too pessimistic.
“I’ve already had a few minor lows, but I can’t complain, I’m healthy, there have been a lot of injuries this year. I would be cleverly arrogant if I said now that this is a crisis.” Except for the middle part, he was “doing well in business anyway”. In the piece in question, he was unable to drive within the tight radius of his competitors. “It doesn’t help, Odi was outstanding once more. Keep working.”
For the ÖSV team, Haaser’s second place was the first speed podium place since Haaser’s second place in the Super-G in Bormio at the end of December. “I’m happy for Haasi, it’s really exciting for me. It might be good for the team,” said Kriechmayr. Stefan Babinsky scored eighth (+0.96), Daniel Danklmaier 17th (+1.29) and Christoph Krenn 20th (+1.58).
Forced break for Hemetsberger
Daniel Hemetsberger had to briefly withdraw from his start in the Garmisch race due to pain in his right knee. Closer examinations did not reveal any acute damage, but did reveal severe inflammation, which is why the Upper Austrian has to take it easy.
The Nußdorfer will therefore not be entirely inconvenienced by the fact that the two runs in Chamonix next weekend were canceled due to a lack of snow. Since no replacement races are planned, only two downhill runs remain on the calendar: Kvitfjell (February 17th) and Saalbach-Hinterglemm (March 24th). In the discipline World Cup, Odermatt is currently leading Cyprien Sarrazin by a slim margin of six points. In the battle for Super-G crystal, the Swiss is 121 points ahead of Kriechmayr.
