Ski season opener in Val Gardena/Gröden

Men’s Super-G in Val Gardena/Gröden from 11.45 am LIVE

Daniel Hemetsberger

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The first race of this year's South Tyrol Tour is the men's Super-G in Val Gardena/Gröden today. The race is underway, we are reporting live (ticker below).

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Here are the intermediate results:

Swiss ski star Marco Odermatt is chasing his first victory in the super-G in Val Gardena/Gröden. One of his challengers is last year's winner Vincent Kriechmayr. "I've skied quite well here a few times in the super-G," said the 33-year-old ÖSV veteran, who is expecting "carnage".

 The record winner is the Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal with five super-G victories, Kriechmayr and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who is missing this year due to injury, have two. "The super-G down there is always special. You have to be at the limit, you really can't give away a single meter. The Norwegians have always shown it," Kriechmayr knows. "It's sure to be a carnage again, it's usually a close story." 2019 and 2023 were the years in which Kriechmayr triumphed in the Val Gardena/Gröden Super-G. Last year, the Upper Austrian won a real thriller, finishing 0.02 seconds ahead of his ÖSV team-mate Daniel Hemetsberger and 0.03 seconds ahead of Odermatt.

Feurstein attacks again after first podium finish
So far there has only been one race of the season in this discipline. In Beaver Creek in the USA almost two weeks ago, Odermatt won ahead of Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin and Vorarlberg's Lukas Feurstein, for whom it was his first World Cup podium finish. "It worked out in Beaver Creek, so everything is good," said Odermatt, who had previously been eliminated in the giant slalom in Sölden. Val Gardena/Gröden is a special course, he emphasized. "We Swiss haven't celebrated that many victories here either."

Feurstein has spent the past few days training in giant slalom in Saalbach. In his second discipline alongside super-G, the Vorarlberg native has not had a successful start to the season. He doesn't have a preferred discipline, explained the 23-year-old, who admired Marcel Hirscher and Ted Ligety in his youth. "In the past, it was always the giant slalom, but I find the speed disciplines very exciting now. The super-G is generally a discipline that is brutally difficult," said the Vorarlberg native. "You really have to push yourself to the limit in every race."

Head coach Marko Pfeifer

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Pfeifer praise for super-G team
With Kriechmayr in sixth place and ninth-placed Daniel Danklmaier, two more Austrians finished in the top ten in the USA. Raphael Haaser retired with good split times, and the Tyrolean suffered a knee injury in the subsequent giant slalom in Val d'Isère. "That really hurts," said ÖSV head coach Marko Pfeifer. It is not unlikely that Haaser will miss the home World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm in February.

Nevertheless, the collective strength in the discipline is still there. "We have four or five people who can finish on the podium. It will be another brutally close super-G by hundredths. Everything has to come together, otherwise you might be tenth right away," said Pfeifer. "But everyone in the super-G team is skiing well and casually."

Hemetsberger "in really good spirits"
 Daniel Hemetsberger had to settle for 25th place in the Beaver Creek super-G, which according to him was also due to a serious mistake. "Skiing-wise it's good. I'm in really good spirits," said the 33-year-old, who is still struggling with knee problems. The outer layer of cartilage in his right knee is already so damaged that, according to a doctor, one could speak of slight osteoarthritis, he said. In the race, however, he feels "absolutely nothing", Hemetsberger assured. He deliberately avoids painkillers.