The big ÖSV balance sheet: Between Julia Scheib and no man’s land

Julia Scheib embodies one more atypical Austrian womanbecause she doesn’t give up so quickly and clearly defines her high goals publicly. Female runners who follow their words with actions are rare.

Austrian skiing would look pretty old without its experienced skiers. Especially in the men’s team, the veterans hold their own Vincent Kriechmayr (34), Stefan Brennsteiner (34) or Manuel Feller (33) raise the flags.

All six victories this season were achieved by athletes who are already over 30. Just for comparison: The 13 Swiss victories For men, only runners who were under 30 years old took part. This bodes ill for the next few seasons.

The Upper Austrian has clearly found fun in racing again and appeared more relaxed and relaxed this season than in the past.

This may also be thanks to the new speed trainer Andi Evers, who helped Kriechmayr win the downhill honors. With his victory in Courchevel, the veteran ended his downhill drought after 1,094 days.

The new alpine boss has already made his mark in his first season and will prove to be a real blessing – but only in the medium term. The effects of all the initiatives initiated by the workhorse Christian Mitter will only be seen in a few years.

Die Flops

A measly 5th place in eight races this season – that’s it frightening World Cup results of the ÖSV women’s team in the Super-G. In this discipline, which primarily requires instinct, technique and courage, there is an acute need to catch up – even Cornelia Hütter’s bronze medal in the Olympic Super-G cannot hide this.

The term team is misleading, because in reality Vincent Kriechmayr still has to play the solo entertainer. Even under the new speed coach Andreas Evers, the ÖSV speed team didn’t really get any momentum on the descent.

A lot of things seem puzzling: How can Stefan Babinsky reach the podium in the Super-G races in Wengen and Kitzbühel and at the same time never get past 14th place in the entire downhill season?

Compared to Switzerland, Austria is a no-man’s land: The Swiss downhill skiers collected 2,188 World Cup points over the course of the season, the Austrians 807.

The veteran went on the offensive at the World Cup final and called for the return of fitness coach Peter Meliessnig in an ORF interview. Otherwise there would be an end to your career. That’s not exactly the fine Upper Austrian way.

Apart from the fact that Kriechmayr with his public outcry disavowed the ÖSV’s own coaching staff and literally forced them to act:

What actually prevents the double world champion from engaging the vital pastry trainer as a private coach? At your own expense, just like many other sports stars do.

By the way: Vincent Kriechmayr was the only runner to always be on the podium in the last three speed races this season and has just had his best season in a long time. So his condition shouldn’t be that bad.

The Austrian ski teams are made up of women and men hopelessly outdated. With a few exceptions (Julia Scheib, Raphael Haaser, Fabio Gstrein), the top performers are all 30 years old or older.

In the men’s team, only three runners who were born in 1998 or younger made it into the top ten this season (Stefan Eichberger, Lukas Feurstein, Joshua Sturm). In the women’s team there were only two (Julia Scheib, Magdalena Egger).

Die second guard presented itself as anything but first-class this season. In 2024/’25, the ÖSV secured nine additional World Cup starting places through the European Cup.

This winter only Anna Schilcher (downhill), Lisa Grill, Emily Schöpf (both super-G) and Manuel Traninger (super-G) made it into the top 3 and thus secured a starting place for the World Cup. By the way, all four are already 25 or older.

The Vorarlberg native saved the ski nation’s honor at the World Cup final last winter and ensured the men’s team’s only victory. However, Feurstein’s career did not take off; in fact, Feurstein actually regressed this season.

The 24-year-old only made it into the top ten twice (6th, 10th); his performance in the giant slalom, in which the 2021 junior world champion is completely out of sorts, is shocking. At the final of the European Cup, the second level, Feurstein didn’t get higher than 22nd place this week.

The ÖSV ski team has developed into one in recent years A haven for place riders and fellow runners developed. The ÖSV was once the measure of all things in skiing, but now mediocrity reigns in many places.

Alpine boss Christian Mitter has at least tightened the squad criteria so that pragmatized athletes such as downhill skiers Otmar Striedinger and Daniel Danklmaier have to make room for younger runners.