Kitzbühel spectacle
New Streif horror! Luck & bad luck in one second
Austria's men's skiers can't shake off the "Hex" this year! There were some great runs at the second Kitz training session and a setback: Felix Hacker suffered a torn cruciate ligament and coach Marko Pfeifer a very painful gallstone colic.
Rudi Nierlich - look at that! "If it works, then it works", the cult star, who was killed in a traffic accident in 1991, once said. With the follow-up: "And if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work!"
Austria's men's speed team can tell you a thing or two about that. Just as the unseries seemed to be coming to an end on Wednesday, there was the next nasty blow.
Stefan Eichberger, the surprise sixth in Val Gardena/Gröden, had finished with the second best training time. Another drop of balm on the suffering downhill soul of the Alpine republic, which had come to the Hahnenkamm race without a win for the first time in its history, having lost its only podium guarantee in Wengen with Vincent Kriechmayr.
And then in the training sessions on the Streif, first Stefan Babinsky on Tuesday (2nd) and then Eichberger in the elite race came knocking at the front. And greedily soaked up the self-confidence from this placement. "It worked quite well. But I didn't have the race tension yet," the 24-year-old rising star of the season let the media know with a full chest.
But while Eichberger was unbuckling his skis at the finish line, the witch that is sitting on Austria's shoulders struck again up on the Streif: Felix Hacker (25), four-time European Cup winner this season (3x downhill, 1x super-G), had started right behind Eichberger, took a knock on the steep slope exit after the 2nd intermediate time and could no longer put any weight on the outer ski. He remained lying in the snow and the helicopter had to pick up the intrepid Carinthian ("I'm really good on the Streif"). It was quiet at the finish, everyone knew what the pictures were saying: the cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee had not withstood the strain of the steep slope.
"That really hurts"
"It really hurts," Eichberger squeezed out as the helicopter carrying his buddy rattled over his head and into the hospital.
In almost a fraction of a second, he went from feeling slightly elated back down to the hard reality of the moment.
This rollercoaster of emotions can really get to you. And it did for the men's head coach Marko Pfeifer. Because he suffered an extremely painful gallstone colic in Kitzbühel and had to have an operation. However, Pfeifer intends to be available again for the Super-G on the Streif on Friday.
The fact that another Austrian, Daniel Hemetsberger, came fourth in training and that Raphael Haaser might still want to make a comeback in Kitzbühel, made the Hex laugh a little less. G. Fraisl
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