"Could also be"

Marcel Hirscher thought about retiring for the second time

Marcel Hirscher was in a better mood: he crashed on the steep slope. "I'm out of place here like this."

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

Marcel Hirscher thought about retiring for the second time on Saturday, as he told the "Krone". "But .... I was here again," said the man from Salzburg, who is facing "zero hour" after his retirement on Sunday in Gurgl.

The Kirchenkar course in Hochgurgl has lost its luster for Austria's ski technicians! One year after the phenomenal triple slalom victory by Manuel Feller, Marco Schwarz and Michael Matt, the locals experienced a disappointment on Sunday - Fabio Gstrein was the best of the ÖSV in ninth place.

Fabio Gstrein

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

In difficult, rather icy conditions, last year's winner Feller was the first of 18 retirements in the first run. "With too little height into the hairpin - and out. That's slalom racing," sighed the Tyrolean. It was bitter that he was once again brilliantly on track (third-best split time) and retired at top speed for the third time after Sölden and Levi - and also bitter that it was the first time he'd dropped a thread this year. "I didn't even have one in training!" The disappointment on the drive home was naturally great, the next event will be the giant slalom in Beaver Creek.

Manuel Feller

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

Feller was not alone in his frustration. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen was also extremely disappointed after his elimination in the material battle of the first run: "I didn't do my job! That hurts me for my team!"

"We're facing zero hour"
 Marcel Hirscher took his second slalom exit in a row relatively calmly, but the 35-year-old was very upset: "No chance!" he said at the finish. "I'm out of place here like this. I'm just a passenger!" As in Levi, he made a mistake with his tuning. "I used to have a bible that I wrote myself. With all the facts and figures about the races. Now I have two pages in a notebook. We're on the brink of zero hour."

Team Hirscher is now throwing itself back into the material work, Marcel is skipping Beaver Creek and setting his sights on Val d'Isère. Motto: Only one letter is given up. "Well, it's possible", Hirscher admitted to the "Krone" at the Gurgl finish, "I thought about that on Saturday. But .... I was here again." Man of the day was Clement Noel, who laid the foundation for France's 70th slalom victory with a real dream run in run one.