That Trinker is responsible for the more successful ÖSV division in France comes as a bit of a surprise. Of the five individual medals, his athletes won three and the men two. “I’m sorry for the gentlemen, I would have given them more. But now it’s the way it is,” said the Styrian, whose team wasn’t given that much credit. Although there was still no gold in the title fights, the number of podiums is impressive, with the women taking a medal in every discipline: Ricarda Haaser bronze in the combination, Cornelia Hütter bronze in the Super-G and Nina Ortlieb silver in the downhill.
“We continued to work very well and we were then ready for every competition. That such an outcome then happens is of course cool.” The exact reasons for the good performance are varied. “You get to a place somewhere and the snow and the slope are right. That speaks for the troops. That’s what happened there. The women were extremely focused, they wanted to achieve something,” he said. “Especially at such a major event, the excitement and motivation is particularly high.”
Believe in “Turnaround”
It is difficult to estimate what is still possible in the technical disciplines. “We were already outsiders downhill and super-G, now we are the real outsiders. But we have very good women who are in very good shape. They often found it very difficult to get it across in the race,” explained Trinker. “We have now tried to apply the levers there so that the first run works. We believe we can turn it around and we’re working our way from race to race hoping there’s more to come.”
In the parallel competition, which takes place on Wednesday (12.00 p.m., live on ORF1), the Austrians are in a good mood. “So the form is right, the approach will also be right,” explained the 48-year-old. “The slope will be very challenging. It has a certain length for such a parallel, especially when you go towards the final, it gets very exhausting. And of course it is very steep. You don’t have 100% experience in that regard.”
Confidence for RTL and Slalom
The most difficult discipline is on Thursday with the giant slalom. “In the last few races, we had a really hard time getting in the top ten at all,” said Trinker. “But there were always good part-times, and some good runs. We believe that we can get a run down and then maybe surprise.”
More could be done in the slalom on Saturday. “Katharina Truppe was on the podium once, Katharina Liensberger can do something, Huber Kathi is in good shape. And with Franziska Gritsch, we know that a slow drive is usually followed by a fast one.”
