Ski World Cup in Kitzbühel
German frustration before Kitzbühel showdown: “Really depressed”
One German misses a bump in the road, the other slips on his inner ski: the start of the Streif weekend turns into an embarrassment for the DSV team. What happens now on the descent?
The severe embarrassment in the Super-G has dampened German anticipation of the big downhill classic in Kitzbühel. “I’m really depressed that we have such technical deficiencies,” complained head coach Christian Schwaiger. His ski racers were very disappointed at the start of the Hahnenkamm weekend: In the Super-G, three of the four starters were eliminated, some miserably, while Luis Vogt only ended up in 44th place.
Will things get better on the descent on the legendary Streif this Saturday (11.30 a.m./ARD and Eurosport)? Coach Schwaiger says he has identified something that makes him optimistic despite Friday’s debacle. He didn’t want to reveal what that was before the race in front of an expected 45,000 spectators.
Coach clearly: “Turn on the melon a little bit”
After the Super-G, he initially avoided his protégés a bit; he didn’t believe in a wild lecture. “I could give you material so that you no longer know what’s going on,” said Schwaiger. “But no, I think you need to talk more sensibly.” But the coach cannot explain how his two best downhill skiers missed out.
Simon Jocher, who was fifth in the Livigno World Cup at the end of 2025, stumbled early in the race and narrowly avoided a potentially fatal fall. The drivers were specially warned about this part of the route at the Seidlalm. “The Super-G was basically not difficult. There were exactly two passages where you had to turn on the bowler hat a bit,” said Schwaiger. Jocher is the only German speed specialist who is going to the Olympics in Bormio after an already disappointing winter.
No dress instinct, no Odermatt class
Romed Baumann missed his ticket to the Winter Games after very poor races – the 40-year-old experienced his next setback in Kitzbühel. He was eliminated on the Oberhausberg after an inside ski error. “He fell over,” complained Schwaiger. “It always annoys me to make such a mistake on a passage like this. These are mistakes of lightness, nothing else.”
The times when German drivers like Thomas Dreßen in 2018 or Josef Ferstl won in Kitzbühel in 2019 are far away. You can’t learn the instinct à la Dreßen or the class and consistency that this year’s winner Marco Odermatt from Switzerland shows again and again.
dpa
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