[ad_1]
The record of the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) as organizational guardian of the opening of the World Cup in Sölden is positive, but after two unexpectedly tough defeats, there is a hangover. The giant slalom is a mega construction site, but that is not only clear from Sunday. Even the new coaching team around Michael Pircher “couldn’t do a miracle,” said manager Andreas Puelacher. So only the keywords hope and hard work remain.
Stefan Brennsteiner as the best rider of the ÖSV in 17th place, with the women on Saturday 15th, 17th and 19th thanks to Katharina Truppe, Stephanie Brunner and Ramona Siebenhofer. The Sölden weekend was a vacuum grip that is particularly painful. “You have to look the facts in the eye. We are not part of the giant right now, the competition is just better than us,” said men’s race director Andreas Puelacher.
“We will have to be content with small partial successes,” said the group manager Pircher, describing the situation that awaits us in the coming months. Anyone who has heard Roland Leitinger hold on to those in charge meanwhile, who was ahead of second Marco Odermatt in the first round before his retirement, recognized how small the rolls that are baked in giant slalom are today.
Schröcksnadel trusts athletes: “I’m sure they can”
“Leitinger was on the fast track, Brennsteiner naturally wanted to score points today, but he drove relatively well,” said ÖSV President Peter Schröcksnadel Milde. “I’m sure they can go fast, they showed it at the top. They just didn’t take him down. But I’m sure they can.” A weak hope is Manuel Feller, who was missing in Sölden due to his back problems, which increased again during the confinement. The same happens with Marco Schwarz, for whom the start of the season ate at halftime after a completely disorderly streak (39th).
Basically, it’s clear that Marcel Hirscher covered a lot and diverted media attention from the dark side of his hits. From 2010 to 2019, when the Salzburg Superman established himself at the World Cup, there was only one more victory for the ÖSV at the World Cup level (Philipp Schörghofer 2011 in Hinterstoder) and a dozen other places on the podium.
Anton Giger, who has been a sports director since Hans Pum left, recognized the problem and installed a new team of coaches, with Hirscher Pircher’s former coach and Hirscher Ferdinand’s father as the expected guarantors of success. However, they will need time because their approach is fundamentally involved, that is, with the swing technique.
Austria seeks the best talents
It is a fact that alpine skiing is becoming more and more specialized. World Cup winners Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Alexis Pinturault managed to achieve the best results in three disciplines. Swiss Odermatt and Kilde’s compatriot Lucas Braathen can be trusted to do so in the future. And in Braathen the question inevitably arises how the comparatively modest alpine section of the Norwegian Ski Federation, in contrast to the ÖSV machinery, manages to create a mega talent every five years.
Ex-athletes: internal competition is not high enough
There are many approaches to discussion. Former ÖSV riders whisper behind closed doors that the Austrians are missing the internal competition. At the time of Hermann Maier, Stephan Eberharter and Co., you already knew during training where you were in an international comparison, because the density of performance in the team was very high. “It gets you more used to racing, then it doesn’t scare you,” said a former asset. Athletes today are surprised in racing because they are not completely challenged in small group training.
However, it should be countered that the time trials are very well directed against athletes from other teams. “The training performance was good compared to international competition. So we expected more,” said Puelacher in Sölden, noting that they had practiced with the Norwegians and Slovenian Zan Kranjec. In addition, riders from Marko Pfeifer’s technical group, such as Schwarz and Feller, or sprinters Matthias Mayer and Vincent Kriechmayr strengthen the core team of RTL.
Immediately the only thing left for the contenders for the red-white-red giant slalom is the certainty that the road is still long. “I will continue to work hard on myself,” promised Brennsteiner. “If you go down a second faster each time, you are two seconds faster, then it won’t be long. But that’s only possible if I’ve crossed the finish line several races.” Brennsteiner was 1.98 seconds behind neo-winner Braathen on Sunday.
[ad_2]
