Ski racer Thomas Dreßen is angry with himself after his fall in Kitzbühel, but also with the organizers. Despite an injured hand, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde races to victory in the snow flurry.
Thomas Dreßen, frustrated, fired his helmet into the snow. Shortly before, guest of honor Arnold Schwarzenegger had toasted the superior winner Aleksander Aamodt Kilde from the stands.
For Germany’s best downhill skier Dreßen, the ski spectacle on the legendary Streif ended prematurely with a fall. Kilde kept his perspective in the snow flurry in Kitzbühel and raced 0.67 seconds ahead of second-placed Frenchman Johan Clarey to his seventh win of the season – despite a broken hand.
After his 13th place in the race on Friday, Dreßen went into the prestigious Hahnenkamm downhill in good spirits. But the fun he had in the days of Tyrol up to that point quickly faded away for the 2018 Streif winner. He already had problems in the upper section of the track. He then slipped away in the Alte Schneise and was completely outside. “At first you’re just angry because you just lay down and are such a fool,” said Dreßen. But he was not only angry with himself, but “also with certain circumstances where something could have been done”.
Poor visibility in Kitzbühel
The 29-year-old explained that he did not really see the blows because of the snowfall. “The ground visibility was zero.” Knowing that it would snow, the organizers could have put blue paint on the slope at the appropriate places. In addition, Dreßen criticized the decision that the start had not been moved down a bit. The athletes would be presented with a fait accompli, he told ZDF. “I don’t understand why we athletes don’t have a say.”
Dreßen, who was already plagued by hip and knee operations, was not worried about his health after his fall. “Of course there’s nothing better than falling on my left hip, which already hurts,” he said. “But that’s okay.”
Despite the difficult conditions, Dreßen’s teammates Romed Baumann and Josef Ferstl were in better shape than they were on the Kitzbühel downhill on Friday. Baumann was eighth in the top ten, Ferstl just missed it in eleventh. Andreas Sander and Dominik Schwaiger took 19th and 37th place.
Meanwhile, powerhouse Kilde celebrated his fifth downhill victory this season – and a happy ending to his wild rides over the most feared piste in the World Cup. During training on Thursday he once had to reach into the snow and suffered a small fracture near his right wrist. In the race on Friday, the 30-year-old almost crashed into the safety fence and ended up only 16th. “It’s definitely one of my greatest victories,” he said now. Thousands of fans cheered Kilde after his second success in Kitzbühel in the finish area. While the annoyed Dreßen scolded.
Source: Stern
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