No Thomas Dreßen, no Andreas Sander – no success: Without the injured hopeful and the ill world vice-champion, who is slowed down by a cold, the German alpine skiers in the World Cup classic on the ruthless track (ice) Stelvio in Bormio, Italy, are far behind their own lagged expectations.
With the clear victory of world champion Vincent Kriechmayr of Austria, veteran Romed Baumann was still the best in 18th place on a day of disappointments – Dominik Schwaiger and Josef Ferstl were eliminated. “It was just extremely difficult,” Baumann said of racing on the demanding and, as usual, extremely icy ZDF piste and confessed he skied with “too much respect” , especially on the arrival runway. Kriechmayr, on the other hand, “simply hit everything”, reports the vice-world champion of the Super-G, 3.22 seconds behind the Austrian. Canada’s James Crawford (+0.40 seconds) and heavy favorite Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway (+0.68) closed in on the winner.
For the already badly decimated German team, which also misses injured Simon Jocher (break after concussion), the race was solid as a rock. Dominik Schwaiger, who had his best result in the World Cup last year in fifth place on the Stelvio, was the first touchdown: after a good 35 seconds of surfing a wave, the binding of his left ski failed. detached – he was able to avoid a fall like in 2017. This did not change the fact that he hit the slope hard with his stick. “It’s annoying, a big disappointment,” he said, shaking his head.
Immediately after Schwaiger, Josef Ferstl fell too far behind after a good dozen seconds on a jump. The 33-year-old, recently a convincing sixth at Val Gardena, fell but was able to prevent a serious impact on the backstop. Nevertheless, he complained of pain afterwards. “The knee hurts,” he said with an expression of pain, “I hope it’s not worse.” Already this Thursday (11:30 a.m. / ZDF and Eurosport) follows a Super-G on the Stelvio, it is possible that Sander had a cold from the returns.
Thomas Dreßen, on the other hand, reports from his place of residence in Scharnstein in Upper Austria, a little discouraged. Two weeks earlier he had suffered a thigh muscle injury during the first descent in Val Gardena, next Tuesday he will pass a check, he reported on ZDF. “It really hurts,” he admitted, “that I have to take a break again,” although “unfortunately” he now has the experience. After a World Cup break of more than two and a half years, Dreßen celebrated a return to Lake Louise at the end of November, with a remarkably good eighth place finish. After that, however, he “just wasn’t having fun”. “It’s about rebuilding the feeling and the self-confidence, which has held me back a bit in the last few races,” he said. If the healing process goes well, he wants to “find the fun again” at the World Cup in Wengen (January 13). dpa
Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates 79th World Cup win
At Semmering Mikaela Shiffrin, 27, also won the second giant slalom and celebrated her 79th World Cup success. The American skier won on Wednesday ahead of Lara Gut-Behrami (Switzerland) and Marta Bassino (Italy) and could complete the Semmering hat-trick with a slalom success on Thursday – as in 2016.
Three titles Shiffrin is still missing out on his career to catch speed legend Lindsey Vonn (USA/82). Like the day before, Jessica Hilzinger and Andrea Filser missed the top 30 final in Austria.
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