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Page 1 — Champagne for the last one!
Page 2 — Without the injury, Dreßen would be racing for victory
Champagne for the forty-sixth! When he arrived at the finish, Thomas Dreßen was immediately showered by his competitors. Everyone knows that this is appropriate, even if all the other drivers are faster than Dreßen today. Because Dreßen is a winner forever. Anyone who has won the Streif is celebrated as the last and slowest.
In 2018, Dreßen won the legendary downhill run in Kitzbühel. He was 24 years old at the time, still without a World Cup victory, and with start number 19 he was at best an insider tip. At the finish he screamed “fuck, yeah!”, and suddenly became famous. Only one other German has ever won the downhill here, Josef Ferstl, in 1978 and 1979, the father of one of Dreßen’s teammates.
Like all Kitzbühel winners, Dreßen received a gondola that now bears his name. During his victory ride he wore the 44 on his helmet, for “DD”, the initials of his father, who died in a cable car accident in Sölden in 2005.
For a skier, a victory on the Streif is like landing on the moon for an astronaut. It doesn’t get any bigger. After Kitzbühel, Dreßen won four more races within two years. If you take his World Cup victories as a benchmark, he is the most successful German downhill skier in history.
Now he has driven his last race in Kitzbühel. Because it just doesn’t work anymore. A week ago he noticed and realized it, on the descent in Wengen, the most famous one after Kitzbühel. Thomas Dreßen, like so many, is a beaten man in his sport, which can be very extreme and brutal.
“I won’t sacrifice my rack for pickles anymore”
“I actually realized while I was driving in Wengen that this might be my last descent,” Dreßen said this Thursday at a quickly called press conference in Kitzbühel’s Hotel Sonne. Many had suspected it after the Wengen departure when he was Sports show gave an interview with very wet eyes. “It’s just bitter when your body just doesn’t cooperate,” he said. The head still wants to, but the knee no longer cooperates.
So Dreßen decided to end his career. “I won’t sacrifice my rack for pickles anymore.” But he wanted to go to Kitzbühel one last time, knowing that he had no chance of placing at the top.
Even before the race, Dreßen is given a special call: Please definitely wait for starting number 31. Dreßen has not been one of the best for some time, so he has to start in the back rows. A lot can happen in Kitzbühel, you are well advised not to go home too early. But based on human judgment, the race has long been decided before it even starts.
The Swiss overdriver and leader of the overall World Cup, Marco Odermatt, puts on another incredible ride, even though he almost slipped off the track at the top after the infamous mousetrap. He is way ahead of everyone else.
Champagne for the forty-sixth! When he arrived at the finish, Thomas Dreßen was immediately showered by his competitors. Everyone knows that this is appropriate, even if all the other drivers are faster than Dreßen today. Because Dreßen is a winner forever. Anyone who has won the Streif is celebrated as the last and slowest.
In 2018, Dreßen won the legendary downhill run in Kitzbühel. He was 24 years old at the time, still without a World Cup victory, and with start number 19 he was at best an insider tip. At the finish he screamed “fuck, yeah!”, and suddenly became famous. Only one other German has ever won the downhill here, Josef Ferstl, in 1978 and 1979, the father of one of Dreßen’s teammates.
