Ahen Thomas Dreßen reached the finish line in Courchevel for the first time at a fairly high speed, he was surprised. He didn’t expect to be so quick, he said. Although he was “nicely shut down, but without a nuclear start. And here and there it wasn’t so ideal.” Dreßen was among the best in the second training session for the downhill at the Alpine World Ski Championships, which takes place on Sunday (11:00 a.m. on ZDF and on Eurosport).
The results of training runs do not have much significance, because some athletes give almost everything, while others pass the key points with moderate risk or put in a swing before the finish line. The former often included Christof Innerhofer from Italy, who was also the fastest in qualifying on Friday, while the others included the favorites Aleksandar Aamodt Kilde and Marco Odermatt.
“Feel for Speed”
But against the background that Dreßen had caught a gastrointestinal virus at the beginning of the week and he was “not up to the task yet”, the performance was pretty good. “I finally got a feel for the speed,” he said after completing the first practice session on Wednesday in overpants, a fleece shirt and at a reduced pace.
The previous World Cup season had been an approach for Dreßen after a two-year injury break. After a good start in Lake Louise, when he finished in the top ten, he thought he was further than he was. Setbacks and a few falls followed. During the last one, during training last week in the Aosta Valley, he had bruised his right knee and left shoulder, which had already been injured. “It was just partly technically bad skiing,” he says.
Dreßen had looked left and right far too often this season, at how the competition drove, instead of concentrating on what made him strong before his break. Perhaps these errors, but above all the physical condition, caused the coaches not to set Dreßen for the World Cup downhill, in contrast to Romed Baumann and Andreas Sander. “I don’t have a problem with that at all, because if I don’t perform well in training now, then I won’t be among the front runners either. But that’s my claim,” said the 29-year-old from Mittenwald.
The decision on the other two starting places, for which Josef Ferstl, Dominik Schwaiger and Simon Jocher are also applying in addition to Dreßen, will only be made after the final training session this Saturday. The performance of the three training sessions will be included in the selection, but they are not the only deciding factor, said head coach Christian Schwaiger. Because he wants to avoid the pressure of a qualification, “because so much energy goes into it. Athletes then perform better in training than on race day.”
However, there seems to be no way around Dreßen. This route, Schwaiger said on Thursday, was tailor-made for the 2018 Kitzbühel winner. Dreßen sees things similarly after the first trips. Because he was absent from the World Cup final here in Courchevel last winter, he first had to work out the characteristics of the “Eclipse”, which means darkness and is an apt name because of the change of light and shadow on the 3100 meter long route. “Technically, it’s not the easiest descent,” said Dreßen. “But there are always long curves and that’s good for me.”
For his driving style, not choosing the narrowest line like the Swiss Odermatt or Kilde from Norway, but giving himself more space, but being able to pull through the turn “with a high basic speed”. During these weeks he has learned that “the paths of others are not fast for me. I’m doing my thing again now, doing what I can.”
It’s not uncommon for a couple of detours to be necessary to get back on track after a two-year break from racing. On Friday, Dreßen watched races he had won on his cell phone for the first time this season. Saalbach, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Lake Louise, Kvitfjell and Kitzbühel 2018 – he always found that “I didn’t do anything special there. And you can’t try anything different in the race than in training.”
But returning to the tried and tested doesn’t change his expectations for the descent. “I didn’t drive here and said I’m going to win this thing” – and that will also be his approach on Sunday, he said, adding: “As long as I’m allowed to drive.” He can. After a good training run on Saturday he got one of two open places. Josef Ferstl drives next to him and the already seeded Romed Baumann and Andres Sander.
