Strolz finished fourth in the downhill in Yanqing on Thursday, combined world champion Schwarz was fifth. They left the strongest slalom competitors such as Alexis Pinturault, Loic Meillard and Luca Aerni far behind. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde was fastest.
“I’m very, very satisfied, I was able to implement the things that we analyzed yesterday while watching the video with the coaches. I tried to drive really concentrated and aggressively. That worked very well,” said Strolz from Vorarlberg . It’s important to get some rest now. “And then look at the slalom in a concentrated manner and do a controlled, focused, aggressive ride again.”
Strolz is 0.75 seconds short of Kilde, which normally can be made up for by the Adelboden winner. Black was 0.95 behind. The other competitors lost more: 1.92 behind was the Frenchman Pinturault, the actual top favourite. Meillard missed 2.79.
“It was okay at the top. Unfortunately, at the bottom, the last bend in the canyon, it pushed me backwards. I didn’t keep up the pace. But overall it’s okay,” said Schwarz from Carinthia. Raphael Haaser finished tenth (+1.51), there was no fourth participant from Austria. “Except for one mistake, it was okay. I like to drive slalom and of course I’m fully motivated.”
Kilde starts at 7.15am
A total of only 27 runners were on the starting list, and there were no combinations in the World Cup for two years in a row. The slalom starts in the order of the downhill result, which means that the Norwegian Kilde will open the slalom at 7:15 a.m. CET (live ORF 1). Meillard then comes with only a mini chance with number 17. It remains to be seen how the South Tyrolean Christof Innerhofer will do next to Kilde in the slalom (+1.07).
Yannick Chabloz’s Olympic debut was short and painful. The Swiss fell on the descent and, according to initial investigations, suffered a fracture in his left forearm. Chabloz was taken away by rescue sled and then flown to the hospital by helicopter.
Source: Nachrichten
