ÖSV boss urges patience – “Can only make a good mood”

Snowboarder Anna Gasser in the Big Air on the Kreischberg, ski jumper Eva Pinkelnig in Zao in singles and with Chiara Kreuzer in the super team competition, the men’s team in Zakopane – the Austrian Ski Association added four victories to its internal success dashboard at the weekend. There was no alpine triumph at the locations of St. Anton and Wengen, but ÖSV President Roswitha Stadlober has said everything about the crisis.

“We’ve had a lot of positive discussions internally, that’s been discussed, there’s nothing more to say about it,” Stadlober answered a corresponding question in St. Anton. As is well known, ÖSV finance officer Patrick Ortlieb scared the athletes with a public scolding before Christmas. As a result, they had found quite critical words that they were reluctant to receive such criticism from the media. There were no consequences and for the time being all coaches were in office.

Of course, there were no top performances, especially in the women’s technical competitions. And two fifth and two ninth places in the two Super-Gs at the weekend in St. Anton are not enough for general jubilation – although the individual performances always have to be looked at.

“It’s an upward trend, which makes me optimistic in the direction of the World Cup. To be fair, you have to say that those who were eliminated would have been at the front. Better that way and they know that the speed is right and they can be there when they come down . Mistakes happen, they happen to others too,” said the President to Cornelia Hütter and Tamara Tippler, who were eliminated in the second Super-G.

Overall, the red-white-red alpine camp hasn’t had a podium place in the World Cup for ten races. Manuel Feller won the last of nine men’s races on January 4 with second place in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen slalom. There have been four female racers so far, with Hütter being the last to stand on the podium on December 4th in the Super-G in Lake Louise. Vincent Kriechmayr is the only winner of the season with his downhill successes in Val Gardena and Bormio.

“We all want to have victories. Who doesn’t want that? The other sports show us that, you can only congratulate them. But it’s not all a wish concert, we’re working hard on it,” said Stadlober. “But it takes a bit of patience and I’m still in good spirits.”

It’s not necessarily the pressure from outside, it’s the pressure you put on yourself that needs to be handled. “Of course, everyone wants to bring what they bring down in training and see it in the result list.” You can only stand in front. “I can tell them you’re well prepared, you can do that. That’s the impact, because they work in such small areas, I can only create a good mood and be there.”