Alpine skiing in Courchevel
Dreßen limps, Weidle puzzles: DSV team without a World Cup medal
Complained about knee pain after the descent: Thomas Dreßen. photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
No second World Cup fairy tale for the German speed drivers. Thomas Dreßen and Co. leave France exhausted and exhausted. The Swiss ski dominator is celebrating his long-awaited gold party.
Even two “different, very strong” drugs could not suppress Thomas Dreßen’s pain. The German hope for a medal left the Alpine Ski World Championships in France limping after the exhausting descent.
“It has relatively little to do with pinching, now it just hurts badly,” said the five-time World Cup winner after his tenth place in the supreme discipline. After Kira Weidle had only finished eighth in the women’s downhill the day before, the German speed squad ended the highlight of the season without a medal.
Dreßen as the best German tenth
The high-speed drivers who were so successful at the World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo 2021 with three silver medals wanted to bring their killer instinct to life. “I’m not at a World Cup to finish tenth,” national coach Christian Schwaiger said. In the end, Dreßen, as the best German, took this place of all places. His teammates Romed Baumann (19th) and Josef Ferstl (27th) had just as little to do with the front ranks as Andreas Sander (29th), two years ago still second in the World Championship.
The track was predestined for Dreßen, but after a training crash and a stomach infection, the 29-year-old experienced an extremely uncomfortable preparation for the World Cup. The Upper Bavarian was correspondingly satisfied after the turbulent days. “I got everything out today. We had to hope that the front would lose a bit of feathers. But they just didn’t,” said the Garmisch-Partenkirchner with a view to the Swiss downhill world champion Marco Odermatt.
To the roar of cowbells and shouts of “Hopp Schwiiz”, the best driver of the current season conjured up a fabulous run in the French snow. Olympic gold, overall World Cup victory, World Cup titles in giant slalom and Super-G – and now also the World Cup triumph in downhill: at the age of 25, Odermatt has won almost everything there is to win.
Relieved, the all-rounder celebrated a boisterous party within sight of Mont Blanc. “Incredible. It’s perfect,” said Odermatt, who had relegated his Norwegian long-time rival Aleksander Aamodt Kilde to second place. Surprisingly, third place went to Alexander Cameron from Canada.
Weidle is looking for explanations
For the German speed men, on the other hand, the downward trend that has been going on since the 2021 World Cup has continued. At least Dreßen (“A couple of small mistakes”) or Baumann (“In the end I had no more reserves”) were able to explain their deficit. Weidle had looked in vain for reasons on Saturday. “I don’t know why I lose so much in the upper part,” said the 26-year-old. Her gap to the surprise Swiss winner Jasmine Flury was 0.61 seconds. Austria’s Nina Ortlieb came second ahead of Swiss Olympic champion Corinne Suter.
After the sobering competitions in the first week of the World Cup, which were sobering from a German point of view, the brooding starts again. Why is it? The body language? At tactical things? Or is it a material defect? Answers should be found by the next men’s World Cup speed race in March. Maybe Dreßen in the USA will be able to do without painkillers again. And Weidle should have found an explanation by then.