Only foot soldiers in the supreme discipline: The alarm bells are ringing at the ÖSV

As the great philosopher said Arnold Schwarzenegger (“I’ll be back”) when he spoke to tens of thousands of ski fans in the Streif finish stadium:

“The most important thing in the world is: Nobody makes sausages as good as mia. The Krainer, the Frankfurter and the Kaiserschmarrn.”

Of course it is like that proud ski nation like Austria It doesn’t matter if the ÖSV athletes do one – to put it in Arnie’s words – in the most important downhill run of the World Cup winter. real nonsense.

Far behind in 13th position The best Austrian (Vincent Kriechmayr) could be found – the ÖSV downhill skiers on the Streif have never been so bad.

21 runs without a win

Die departure is and remains a large construction sitein the supreme discipline the Austrians are now just the rank and file.

The ÖSV downhill skiers have been waiting for a victory for 21 races, and Austria is the fourth force in the Downhill Nations Cup behind Switzerland, Italy and France.

Marco Odermatt (460) alone has collected more points this season than the entire ÖSV downhill team (394).

“That bothers me”

How big the red-white-red dilemma really is becomes apparent whenever Vincent Kriechmayr didn’t have a good day.

As on Friday in the Super-G, the veteran made too many mistakes on the downhill. “I’m really pissed off, that bothers me because I’m too ambitious for that.”

Disappointing

It says a lot about the performance level and current condition of the ÖSV downhill skiers that Vincent Kriechmayr himself after one messed up trip was still the best Austrian in Kitzbühel.

With Manuel Trade (24.) and Raphael Haaser (25th), only two other ÖSV athletes made it into the points in the home race.

The rest was once again disappointing on all fronts: Daniel Hemetsbergerwho was last in the top ten in Wengen, slipped off the course after a careless mistake (“I was too unclean and then I ended up lying there”).

Stefan Babinsky, on the other hand, is a big enigma: While the Styrian has reached the top of the world in the Super-G after his podium places in Wengen and Kitzbühel, he is only lagging behind in the downhill.

Kitzbühel (34th place) was now the third descent in a row in which Babinsky was not in the points.

Kriechmayr is taking a break

The ÖSV took refuge after the debacle Perseverance slogans and practiced two weeks before the Winter Games Optimism of purpose. “We are the dangerous outsiders,” said President Roswitha Stadlober.

Vincent Kriechmayr drew the conclusions from the poor performance and takes some time off. The 34-year-old is skipping the descent in Crans Montana on Sunday. “I have to train so I can do better at the Olympics.”