Alpine skiing
A hundredth is missing: Straßer fourth in Kitzbühel
Ski racer Linus Straßer at the start in Kitzbühel. photo
© Marco Trovati/AP/dpa
Slalom specialist Straßer shines like never before on the Ganslernhang, but just misses the podium. Downhill Dreßen also suffers in Kitzbühel. Kilde conquers the Streif with a broken hand.
Linus Straßer was visibly suffering. “I’ve never been so angry about fourth place in the World Cup,” said Germany’s best slalom skier after the thriller in Kitzbühel.
The Munich rider was just a hundredth of a second behind third-placed Norwegian Lucas Braathen at the end of the famous Hahnenkamm race on Sunday. It was two hundredths to second Dave Ryding from Great Britain.
Nevertheless: Straßer was in top form again when Daniel Yule from Switzerland won. Unlike the German speed men, he is also one of the favorites at the World Ski Championships in France in two weeks. His best result so far on the Ganslernhang was no consolation for him.
Strasser at the limit
On the one hand, Straßer was “totally satisfied”. The slope with its many transitions is “extremely difficult to drive”. In addition, the light was “very flat”, he explained. On the other hand, he struggled with the fact that he lost a place in the second run. He was “quite close to the limit,” said the 30-year-old. “But: If you think back to one or the other momentum that I didn’t drive in on completion, you’ll bite your ass.”
Straßer once learned to ski on the Ganslernhang as a child. But never before had he done so well there in the World Cup as he did this time. He only made it into the points twice – each time as 14th. Nevertheless, he has probably never been so looking forward to the race as this year, he explained. The consistency he’s showing this season inspires him. In four of the past five slaloms he has finished in the top four. Strasser is one of the best in the world.
Unlike the German speed team. The descents on the legendary Streif had again provided plenty of spectacle. However, Thomas Dreßen had lost all fun in the snow flurry on Saturday. Frustrated, the 29-year-old threw off his helmet after falling in the Alte Schneise and retiring. Dreßen was angry at himself, but “also at certain circumstances where you could have done something”.
criticism of the organizers
The 2018 Kitzbühel winner complained about the poor visibility. In the knowledge that it would snow, the organizers could have painted the slope in the appropriate places, said Dreßen. He also criticized the decision that the start had not been moved down a bit. Athletes have no say, he said.
Dreßen’s teammates had “lost the thread” in the past few weeks for various reasons, some of which were health-related, as national coach Christian Schwaiger put it. In Kitzbühel they took it up again, at least partially. Despite the difficult conditions on Saturday, Romed Baumann finished eighth in the top ten, while Josef Ferstl just missed out on eleventh. But there is still a lot missing from the absolute top people.
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde remains the downhill dominator of the winter. The Norwegian celebrated his fifth win of the season in the supreme discipline on Saturday – and a happy ending to his wild rides over the most feared piste in the World Cup. It was one of his greatest victories, he said. Thousands of fans cheered him, including star guest Arnold Schwarzenegger.
During training on Thursday, Kilde suffered a small fracture near his right wrist. When Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr won the race on Friday, the 30-year-old almost crashed into the fence. From the near-catastrophe to the king of Kitzbühel in 24 hours – that’s extraordinarily spectacular, even for the Streif. Just like Straßer’s extremely narrowly lost slalom thriller on Sunday.