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Matthias Mayer and Vincent Kriechmayr are always there when it comes to the downhill slopes where brutal and disrespectful skiing is required. In Bormio, the two were only four hundredths apart on Wednesday in the ÖSV’s first win this alpine winter. “I recovered. It’s very important to me too,” Mayer admitted after a rather unsuccessful start to the season. Kriechmayr thought of the collective: “Now we finally have some peace.”
Mayer achieved his 10th World Cup victory in the final race of 2020, and it was also his first podium of the season. Aside from fourth place in the Super-G in Val Gardena, he had so far not come close to the top. “My season didn’t get off to a great start. There were always small mistakes at the beginning, there were also small hackers at Super-G, where I was not entirely satisfied,” said Carinthian, who also worked in Sölden and Alta Badia. Giant slalom and also started in the parallel competition in Lech / Zürs.
Kriechmayr, who was second in the Super-G the day before, was also satisfied: “I had a really good race. Of course, I would find four hundredths of a second somewhere in the place.” The essential thing is the positive trend. “I’m getting more and more into the so-called flow. The first few races were very good, especially in terms of basic speed, but too error-prone. Now I have a bit of confidence and hope I can take that with me in the new year.” , explained Upper Austria.
Both started the season with great expectations, after the move from Kriechmayr to Head even as brand partners. “We have been predicted a bit as a ‘dream team’. We had a great season last year, but confirming that is not easy,” Mayer said. Last January in Kitzbühel, Mayer had already won before Kriechmayr, on a route that, like the Stelvio, is one of the toughest in the truest sense of the word and, for runners, the most exhausting in the Cup. of the world.
Matthias Mayer expects a positive effect for the team
Men’s race director Andreas Puelacher had already indicated that ÖSV’s comeback could make it to the podium in Bormio. “When it comes to sensitive skiing, others are stronger,” said the Tyrolean. When it gets steeper and brutally icy, as in Bormio almost always in the recent past, Mayer and Kriechmayr will be expected, announced before Christmas.
“The races in Val d’Isere and Gröden, we knew from the beginning that they were not our conditions,” confirmed Mayer. But then delivering it to Bormio, if you’ve done it yourself, it’s “a great story.” The fact that the slope was not as tough as usual on Monday due to heavy snowfall does not change that. “I hope we can continue to work like this in the future and maybe lead one or another of our troops in our direction a bit.”
Only in the 23rd World Cup competition for men and women did it work with the first red-white-red success in the 2020/21 season. Kriechmayr saw this as a relief: “At least now we don’t have as much pressure in public, and people don’t talk so much nonsense anymore.” Now you can “continue working in peace”.
Compared to 2019/20, men are almost exactly at the level of the previous year. While Mayer and Co. had 1,475 points, six podium spots and two wins after 13 races, this year it’s 1,445 points, seven podium spots and one win. On the other hand, the outlook in the Nations Cup is darker: if Austria took first place twelve months ago at the end of the year with 3,017 points, the Confederates are divided in 2020 with a balance of 3,309 points. Austria stands at 2,725 meters. The direct comparison is, of course, wrong, as this season three fewer races have been completed than at the same time last year. But the Swiss performance is even more remarkable.
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