Caught in the downward spiral: The crisis of the ÖSV ski stars

No victory. Just four podium places. Only six results in the top 5. Only one ÖSV runner in the overall World Cup in the top 25. Degraded to third place in the Nations Cup and already an unassailable 1,189 points behind Switzerland.

This is a devastating result for an association that puts in such immense effort as the ÖSV.

place driver

At any football club, a coaching discussion would have broken out long ago after such a false start. This is the usual reflex when things go wrong and the downward spiral cannot be stopped. Especially when there is a home World Cup coming up in three and a half weeks.

In skiing, the clocks work differently. And the Austrian Ski Association is also demonstrating calm and composure in this sporting crisis. What else is left? A football club can sign new players if necessary, the ÖSV men’s boss Marko Pfeifer has to live with the athletes and make do with those who are there.

And currently there are simply too many place riders and fellow runners in the Austrian men’s team, from the slalom to the downhill, who are somehow always there, but never in the middle of it. Athletes who feel like they have been treading water for years, but still get a starting number because no one is pushing from behind. “We can’t conjure up the runners,” says Marko Pfeifer.

And when, like this season in the men’s team, even the last top performers and leaders weaken, then things suddenly look bleak.

Streak of bad luck

Manuel Feller dominated the slalom last winter, this year he didn’t make it into the rankings in six of eight races this season, and he was also eliminated in Madonna on Wednesday.

Marco Schwarz is clearly having a hard time making his comeback after a year-long injury break (torn cruciate ligament, intervertebral disc surgery) and has only finished 26th in four starts.

And also a speed expert Vincent Kriechmayr is still lagging behind the form of previous winters.

No advertising for the World Ski Championships

Of course, the Austrians don’t have much time left to ignite the euphoria that was felt throughout the country at the last home World Championships in 2001 in St. Anton and 2013 in Schladming. This should be the case World Cup in Saalbach-Hinterglemm But it will be “the most casual of all times,” as was announced at a press conference just this week.

The ambitious goal: a sold-out stadium and 150,000 spectators at every race. The ÖSV alpine team’s appearances so far aren’t exactly advertising for the event; there are still 60,000 tickets available.

Anchor of hope

Maybe the omens aren’t so bad after all. Maybe it will really happen as some in the ÖSV predict or tell themselves in their optimism.

The fact that Austria’s skiers have lowered their expectations so much with their poor performances that they can actually only surprise positively at the home World Cup.

It is also true: If, contrary to expectations, the Austrians win big in Saalbach-Hinterglemm and stage a sporting winter fairy tale at the World Cup, then no one will remember the slalom in Madonna and all the debacles this season will suddenly be a thing of the past .