If yesterday’s shortened men’s Wengen downhill had been an Olympic race, the Austrians would have had long faces. But as it is, fourth place for Daniel Hemetsberger, five for Max Franz and six for Matthias Mayer only fuel the aggressiveness for today’s classic Lauberhorn descent from the original start (12.30 p.m., ORF 1). Then Vincent Kriechmayr, who was twelfth after the turbulence of the past few days, wants to push back into higher spheres.
Irrespective of this, the Swiss celebrate one ski festival after the other. After the crowds in Adelboden yesterday, 13,500 fans cheered for two podium finishes. Only the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who celebrated his eleventh World Cup victory (the first in Wengen), put Marco Odermatt (2nd) and Beat Feuz (3rd) in their place. “It was really cool to drive and it was always one of my goals to win here,” said Aamodt Kilde.
“I’m extremely pleased”
Nußdorfer Daniel Hemetsberger was no less happy, who finished fourth in his best World Cup result from December 2021 in Bormio and thus probably bought his ticket for the Winter Games in Beijing. “For the first race down there, I rode it exactly as I wanted,” said the 30-year-old, who was only 16 hundredths off the podium.
“I tried full throttle again. I managed quite well to drive everything on train. The goal was to finish in the top 15. I’m extremely happy that it’s happened like this,” said Hemetsberger, who knows that today’s second descent will really get to the substance. Also because he was not quite fit in the past week. “When I think about it, I get a little black. It’s brutally tough to breathe, but I’ll do everything I can.”
Pure attack is also the motto of Kriechmayr, who got the green light for the two Wengen downhill runs on Thursday evening with a hotly debated special permit from the jury. Because he had missed the training runs due to a corona infection, he catapulted himself out of the start house at 9.45 yesterday, drove a few meters and swung down. This show had been the requirement of the FIS.
“Of course I’m grateful that I get the chance,” said Kriechmayr, who tried to suppress the theater for his person. “It would only be fair if other athletes came after me should a situation like this arise. I don’t think I was the last. It also takes courageous decisions for the athletes.” The Swiss, Germans and French saw things differently, namely critically. “It’s a very delicate decision. Absolutely nothing against Vincent Kriechmayr, but that’s arbitrary and opens all the doors for other special requests,” said Urs Lehmann, President of Swiss Ski, annoyed.
Kriechmayr did not use the lack of training sessions as an excuse for his rather mediocre performance. “It was definitely not because of that, I’ve skied down here often enough,” emphasized the double world champion from Grama-stetten.
“I started with a lot of commitment and then did a plow in Kernen-S. I’m still confident for Saturday, I’ll do my best,” said the 2019 Lauberhorn champion. (alex)
Source: Nachrichten
