2024-01-13 21:29:34
– The Swiss ski team lives from a single rider
Without the Nidwalden native, the Swiss would still be without a podium finish this season. But the view of young people is promising.
Published: January 13, 2024, 10:29 p.m
In conflict: Niels Hintermann drives some passages well in Wengen – and yet he expects more from himself than 8th place.
Photo: Peter Schneider (Keystone)
Quiz question: Who was the last Swiss speed rider on a World Cup podium who wasn’t named Marco Odermatt? If you don’t immediately think of the answer, that’s no big deal. In fact, it takes another look back to figure it out. A year ago, Niels Hintermann came third in Kitzbühel. Since then, Odermatt has achieved twelve podium places in downhill and super-G, including seven victories – without a teammate on the podium.
The man from Nidwalden improves the balance sheet massively. It’s the same on the Lauberhorn run. Behind the outstanding winner, four other Swiss are in the top 15: Niels Hintermann (8th), Stefan Rogentin (13th), Franjo von Allmen (14th) and Josua Mettler (15th); Alexis Monney (22nd), Lars Rösti (24th) and Gilles Roulin (27th) also score points. This is a good team result. But it also shows how big the gap is between Odermatt and the rest of the Swiss team.
Behind man and the lack of trust
Hintermann serves as a prime example of this. The Zurich native finished in the top 10 three times this winter, but he is only partially satisfied with that. Because he knows what it feels like to be on the podium. “If you don’t have full confidence, you won’t go into every swing,” he says. “If I think back to how I drove in Kitzbühel, the conviction was completely different. And I have to get back to that step by step.” In this regard, small successes would help him, such as the individual good passages on the Lauberhorn descent.
Like Hintermann, Rogentin is also one of the established drivers in the Swiss team, and like the man from Zurich, the man from Graubünden is also struggling at the moment. A year ago he came second in the Super-G in Wengen. This upward outlier was more of a curse than a blessing because he mightn’t confirm it. “After my podium finish I had a difficult time,” he says. After all, ranks 9 (in Super-G) and 13 from Wengen are small performers.
When asked regarding the discrepancy between Odermatt and the rest of the speed team, head coach Tom Stauffer names two athletes who are no longer active: Beat Feuz and Mauro Caviezel. The two resigned a year ago, meaning Swiss-Ski lost two reliable podium finishers in one fell swoop. “Our luck is that Marco took on her part,” says Stauffer. “Now it’s time to bring the others forward.” The Bernese is confident that Hintermann will soon be able to get back to the top. He also has a rider in giant slalom specialist Justin Murisier who regularly makes it into the top 10 in downhill and super-G, but fell on Saturday.
Von Allmen demonstrates morality
Above all, Stauffer relies on young people. Born in 2000, Monney from Freiburg is the youngest rider in the top 30 of the World Cup start list. The fact that he has to be satisfied with 22nd place in Wengen is also due to the circumstances with the many interruptions and the softer surface.
Franjo von Allmen perhaps makes the greatest effort. The Bernese Oberlander had to start twice in the shortened descent on Thursday because he was waved off following Marco Kohler fell. The next day he fell in the Super-G – and still managed to finish 14th in his first full Lauberhorn downhill run. “And that in only his sixth World Cup downhill run, that’s an amazing performance,” Stauffer praises him. For the 22-year-old, it’s now a matter of getting to know each route. “And we have to show the young how much risk there may be,” says Stauffer. “Some come straight from the European Cup, you have to work with them.”
Kohler showed on Thursday how quickly things can go in the other direction. He suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament, an injury to the medial and lateral meniscus and a strain to the medial ligament. When his copains competed in the classic on Saturday, he was in the operating room.
More regarding the LauberhornabfahrtEisbrecher – the hockey podcast from TamediaYou can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. If you use another podcast app, just search for “icebreaker”.Marco Oppliger has worked as a sports editor for Tamedia since 2013. His core topics are ice hockey and alpine skiing, and he also reports on wrestling and athletics. More info
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