Top time as forerunner

Mayer about to make a comeback? “I’m brutally itching!”

Matthias Mayer

(Bild: GEPA)

Triple Olympic champion Matthias Mayer raced down a World Championship piste on Wednesday, a good 25 months after his retirement. At the downhill training in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, "only" as a forerunner, but this could be the next step on the way to his comeback. "I don't think there's anything better for a downhill skier than skiing down there. I like being there and I like riding the forerunners. I'm really itching to get going," says the 34-year-old.

Talks about a return will take place in a few weeks after the World Championships or after the season, as the Carinthian revealed. The wild card for skiers with major successes could play a role in this. "We sat together in the fall and actually came up with the idea that I could be a forerunner," Mayer told the media after his run. He could understand the interest in it. "Riding the forerunners suddenly raises the question of a comeback. And maybe the wildcard plays a role, or maybe the other comebacks of Marcel (Hirscher) or Lindsey (Vonn) play a role too," said the 34-year-old. "Maybe that has also driven me a bit. It's all part of it somehow."

So there will definitely be talks, then a decision will be made. "Then I'll make a decision as to whether or not I really want to take the momentum I've built up over the last few weeks with me next year." He does not yet feel fit enough to race. "I'm fit enough for the pre-race, but not for a top level for weeks on end." Mentally, however, he is doing very well, is in a good mood and is looking forward to the week, says the 2014 Olympic downhill champion, who retired at the end of December 2022.

"I'm brutally itching"
 Mayer had already acted as a forerunner at the European Cup race in Zauchensee in mid-January, and now he was setting the course for Vincent Kriechmayr and co. In "perfect weather and perfect slopes" it was sensational to ski. "For a downhill skier, I don't think there's anything better than skiing down there. I love being there and I love skiing the forerunners. It gives me a brutal itch." He took one look at it in peace. "Of course, I tried to ride down a bit on the train and pick up a bit of speed."

Matthias Mayer was beaming from ear to ear after his run as the forerunner.

(Bild: APA/EXPA/JOHANN GRODER)

Because when "the other colleagues" ask him something, he has to be able to have a say. "I have to make sure that I'm on the same level in terms of speed. That's how he, winner of eleven World Cup races, got involved after his run. "I radioed up that it was faster than during the inspection so that they could assess it. I tried to get involved."

Mayer described the first gates over waves on the upper slope as key sections. Then the traverse above the middle station, where you have to carry your speed well over the flat section. "It's technical at the top in the first part, then the steep slope exit with a lot of speed, in between a small gliding passage and the jumps, which you have to hit very well. At the end, you just have to really push it down." He believes that someone like Kriechmayr will have every chance on this course. But a lot is possible for many.

16th place
With a time of 1:43.20 minutes as a forerunner, "Mothl" would have been 16th in training - and therefore only around two seconds slower than the fastest Ryan Cochran-Siegle.