For Christian Schwaiger it was clear beforehand that the parallel races would be good for the Alpine Ski World Cup: “I think it’s mega cool,” said the head coach of the German Ski Association (DSV) before the giant slalom, which is quite controversial among traditionalists on the scene -Event with the fight man against man in Lech am Arlberg: “This is a cool format”. Schwaiger likes to train it often, because the athletes “push themselves” and the technical development of the runners does not harm the precise driving in tight radii either.
After the race on Friday, Schwaiger was also very satisfied with the result, because two of his drivers had advanced to the quarter-finals and Alexander Schmid even achieved the first podium of the season for the DSV with third place. “Just amazing”, Schmid gushed about his performance: “I’m really looking forward to it”. Of course, he already knew that he could “ski fast”. But afterwards he was overwhelmed by an “indescribable feeling”.
Schmid drove under floodlights on Friday evening in a knockout system with two rapid giant slalom runs of only around 23 seconds each on the blue and red slopes after victories against the Norwegian Timon Haugan and the Austrian Christian Hirschbühl up to the semifinals. There he took a bit too much risk in a duel with the favored Frenchman Alexis Pinturault after 0.12 seconds behind from the first run in the second run and failed at the third from last goal. Against the Austrian Adrian Pertl, the 26-year-old won the “small final” in both races and was third with a lead of 0.58 seconds.
The World Cup victory was secured by Pinturault, who won the final against Henrik Kristoffersen in the duel of the top dogs. The Norwegian had previously played Destiny for the second-best German in the daily standings in the quarter-finals, exploiting his only weakness in the competition.
Stefan Luitz had a brilliant morning and even achieved the best time of all participants in the qualification run. “Stefan was the fastest man on the mountain,” said head coach Schwaiger afterwards. But Luitz wouldn’t be Luitz if he had a whole day of skiing without any problems. In the quarter-finals he lost a bit of his skiing concept, which Kristoffersen promptly took advantage of. “I’m very satisfied with seventh place,” said Luitz nonetheless. “The qualification was great, the first run was also good. And then I let myself be tempted a bit ”. He went a little “too directly” to the narrowly placed gates, which meant that the eminently important rhythm was lost, “then you don’t stand a chance against such people.” His conclusion was nevertheless positive: the “man against man” competition made “easy Great fun, “said the 28-year-old.
His team-mate Schmid, who was two years his junior and who had already been third in the qualification, did not forget to mention that despite the shortness of the individual runs, the overall load should not be underestimated, because after all, he had to complete eight runs within a good hour.
Overall, the German duo confirmed that the parallel competition suits them: Luitz even finished second in the previous season in Alta Badia. And Schmid had achieved his only podium finish in Chamonix in third place. This time he then spoke of his “favorite format”. And coach Schwaiger saw himself confirmed anyway.
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