A Christmas review in the ÖSV: More victories, more construction sites

This year the ÖSV balance sheet is more positive. After the first 15 races, the Austrians already have three victories, which were also achieved by three different runners.

An interim conclusion from the Austrian perspective before the short Christmas break – the World Cup will continue with a Super-G in Livigno on December 27th.

Stefan Brennsteiner

The unlucky man from the service is finally rewarded for his ability to suffer and persevere. At 34, Brennsteiner has not only made it into the ranks of World Cup winners (Copper Mountain), he even steals the show from superstar Marco Odermatt in the giant slalom. The red jersey for the World Cup lead in the discipline ranking is the well-deserved reward for Brennsteiner’s consistency at the highest level – the Salzburger was in the top 5 in all five races of the season.

Giant slalom

It was only five years ago that the ÖSV giant slalom team brought just one runner into the second round at the start of the season in Sölden. What was once a problem has now become a model discipline. The Austrian team not only has two season winners in Brennsteiner and Marco Schwarz (Alta Badia), no other team has collected more World Cup points in giant slalom this winter than the Austrians.

Christian Mitter

In the spring, the Styrian took over the position of alpine director and in this short time he has already left some traces. It is striking how much the ÖSV racers are looking for an exchange with the long-time successful coach of the Norwegian men’s team. The others are also noticing this spirit of optimism surrounding the Austrian ski team. “He gave the team a jolt, everyone can feel that,” says long-time ÖSV director Toni Giger.

Vincent Kriechmayr

The 34-year-old from Upper Austria has finally found the “joy of skiing” again, as he regularly emphasizes – and Vincent Kriechmayr can see that too. In Super-G, the 2021 double world champion is still one of the superstars, as shown by ranks 1 and 2 in the overseas races.

Departure team

As of now, it will be a harsh winter in the premier discipline this year too. Austria currently does not have a powerful downhill team, on the one hand this is due to the injuries of the biggest hopefuls (Stefan Eichberger, Felix Hacker), and on the other hand the ÖSV lacks the personnel with potential. A look at the start list also makes this clear: The Austrians now only have three runners in the top 30, arch-rival Switzerland has eight downhill skiers in the top 30. Neo-speed coach Andreas Evers has to hope that Vincent Kriechmayr stays healthy, almost the entire responsibility of the downhill nation depends on the veteran.

Johannes Strolz

24, 24, 23, on Monday the failure in the slalom in Alta Badia – the man who has the same Olympic record as Marcel Hirscher (2 x gold, 1 x silver) just can’t get going. The name Strolz symbolizes the downward trend of the Austrian slalom team.

Otmar Striedinger

In the past, someone like him would have had to give up his World Cup starting place long ago. The example of the 34-year-old Carinthian makes it clear what the Austrian downhill team is currently doing. Striedinger has only been in the top 30 once in the last nine speed races this season and still has no points this winter. Nevertheless, the ÖSV is still dependent on the veteran because there are apparently too few young downhill skiers pushing forward.

The hopefuls

Where are the young athletes who are pushing forward and taking the place of the many established followers? Why are there still so few drivers from the 2000s in the ÖSV team? With Lukas Feurstein, the skiing nation has only one runner who was born after the turn of the millennium and has already landed in the top 5.