For the first time in a year, the German downhill skiers missed a top ten placement in the supreme alpine discipline. In the spectacular and extremely exciting race on the, as usual, highly demanding Pista Stelvio in Bormio, Italy, the native Austrian Romed Baumann came 14th as the best starter of the German Ski Association (DSV).
The Austrians couldn’t be stopped in the last race of the year. After the last 22 World Cup competitions without a victory in women and men, the two-time Olympic champion Matthias Mayer won 0.04 seconds ahead of teammate Vincent Kriechmayr. The up-and-coming Swiss Urs Kryenbühl took third place (+0.06 seconds).
Baumann was only 0.43 seconds short of the top 10
Twelve months earlier, the German downhill skiers had also missed the top 10 in Bormio – at that time Josef Ferstl was 21st. This time, too, they had a hard fight with the roughly 3.3 kilometer long »Stelvio«: Baumann was 1.02 seconds behind Mayer, who had also won the last Austrian victory in Kvitfjell in March.
“It’s rare that we’ve had such a close race on such a difficult track. You’re one second behind on the podium in other races, ”said Baumann, who had impressed the day before as a strong seventh in the Super-G on the“ Stelvio ”. “I have to be satisfied” with his two trips, said the currently best German.
Baumann was only 0.43 seconds short of the top 10 – too much in a tight race. His five team-mates were even more behind, but: Andreas Sander (19th), Manuel Schmid (Fischen / 21st), Simon Jocher (26th), Ferstl (27th) and Dominik Schwaiger (30th) all made it into the Scoring.
