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Vincent Kriechmayr carried his World Cup height from Cortina d’Ampezzo to his homeland and raised the red-white-red flag at the speed races at Saalbach-Hinterglemm. His ninth World Cup victory on Saturday in the downhill section was followed by another podium yesterday. The 29-year-old Gramastettner came third in the Super-G at the Zwölferkogel, dotted with treacherous passages, behind Swiss sovereign Marco Odermatt and Frenchman Matthieu Bailet, whom no one really had on the list.
With the 24-year-old taking his first podium since Nice, Kriechmayr still has to worry a bit about his first little crystal ball. The decision in the classification of the discipline will be taken on March 18 in the final of the World Cup in Lenzerheide, the star of the Upper Austrian ski travels 83 points ahead of Odermatt.
A 14th place is enough
If the confederate wins his “home game”, Kriechmayr is enough with a 14th place. “Of course I would have liked to have him wrapped up in Saalbach, but it is what it is,” said the Mühlviertel perfectionist, who was not entirely satisfied. with his performance in Super G. “Of course I had planned more, but the other two were better. Marco Odermatt deservedly showed us the limits,” admitted Kriechmayr, who almost fell off the podium. ÖSV’s colleague Raphael Haaser, who started with number 33, was only two hundredths behind Kriechmayr at the end. For the Tyrolean, it fits like this: “I can’t slide when the Vinc is going around the world,” Haaser joked.
Matthias Mayer exited the Super-G ball race with a seventh place. However, it was a great performance by the Austrian team that brought five athletes to the top eleven. Nussdorf’s Daniel Hemetsberger convinced in tenth place, the day before the three Upper Austria had finished in relegation points at the 2025 World Cup: Kriechmayr as champion, Hemetsberger as 16 and World Cup rookie Max Lahnsteiner from Ebensee as 30.
After his third win of the season (after Kitzbühel and Garmisch, both in Super-G), Kriechmayr practiced the euphemism: “After the successes at Cortina, now things are easy for me. Before the criticism arose , I wanted to confirm and show these it turns out that I am not a random world champion. ” No one would have “sealed” Kriechmayr as such if it hadn’t gone as planned at Saalbach-Hinterglemm.
When it comes to being fast, Kriechmayr is always a favorite. He worked hard for this position. Not only does Odermatt take his hat off to his rival for the Super-G crystal. “Vinc drives constantly at a very high level, my cards are bad. Vinc only has to cross the finish line in Lenzerheide, but maybe he is a little more nervous than usual. I think it is great that he still has a theoretical opportunity”, said the 23-year-old who also participates in the World Cup in general. Odermatt narrowed the gap with Alexis Pinturault (Fra) to 81 points. (Alex)
