Surprise in Val Gardena/Gröden
Santa Claus for the downhill skiers weighed 104 kilos
It also looked like a debacle for the ÖSV men in the Val Gardena/Gröden downhill before Stefan Eichberger saved the red-white-red honor with start number 56. Vincent Kriechmayr, meanwhile, was thinking about retiring ...
The Christ Child arrived for Austria's downhill team three days before Christmas with bib number 56 and weighed 104 kilos! The day after the super-G waddle on the Saslong in Val Gardena/Gröden, when it looked like the next big slap in the face in the downhill (nobody in the top 10), ÖSV rookie Stefan Eichberger came from the back of the starting field - and pulled the chestnuts out of the fire once again for the red-white-red speed knights. In only his fifth World Cup race, the latch from Kleinlobming (186 cm tall, 104 kilos) achieved his first top 10 finish with 6th place. "This is so nice, so cool. I took a swing, saw the sixth place and thought to myself: The world is not standing still," said Eichberger, completely ecstatic.
Six hundredths short of the podium
The World Cup newcomer almost pulled off the big sensation. On the accelerating Saslong, the 24-year-old was 41 hundredths better than winner Marc Odermatt at the fourth intermediate time - and at the finish he was only six hundredths or 1.61 meters short of the podium!
"I saw it - and felt it too," nodded the Styrian. The Ciaslat exit went wrong: "I got there soooo fast, certainly at five or six km/h more than in training. And then ... Anyway: such an awesome feeling."
At the finish line, Eichberger was especially celebrated by downhill coach Werner Franz, who had achieved a similar feat 31 years earlier in the Val Gardena/Gröden downhill: second with bib number 52 behind Liechtenstein sensation Markus Foser - with bib number 66.
Ploier injured
The repetition of the bib number coup saved the men's team from another rebuff. Daniel Hemetsberger (12th) did reasonably well, Stefan Rieser (16th) also did okay. The rest skied below expectations, Andreas Ploier also suffered a hand injury.
Kriechmayr frustrated
Leading man Vincent Kriechmayr had a really bad time: 55th place - the second worst downhill result of his career (Kvitfjell 2022 57th). And he was correspondingly angry: "Something has to change. If I keep trailing behind like this, I'll take my hat off. That's not my standard."
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