Shortly before the home World Championships, the ÖSV men's team is in crisis. For Saalbach, the expectations of the former number 1 ski nation are lower than ever. In Kitzbühel, the team hopes to break free.
23.01.2025, 05:00
23.01.2025, 07:29
SDA
There have been seasons in a row when Hermann Maier, Stephan Eberharter and Co. have traveled to the classic race in Kitzbühel with ten, eleven or even twelve victories - and have also played out their dominance to the maximum on the Hahnenkamm. The up to 50,000 fans at the finish line and along the Streif got into a party mood thanks to the avalanche of local success.
Tens of thousands of fans, a great atmosphere and lots of parties will of course be more than enough in Kitzbühel in the coming days. However, this will probably be despite rather than because of the hosts' sporting achievements. Because so far this season, the team led by ÖSV men's boss Marko Pfeifer has often shown its weak side.
20 races, zero victories
The situation is comparable to that of the Swiss men around a decade ago. Back then, Swiss-Ski did not live up to its own or public expectations in any way. Winless and almost without a podium finish at the home races in Wengen? That was the rule rather than the exception for several years.
Ahead of the 85th Hahnenkamm races, the Austrians are in a crisis mood as the most successful nation by far in the history of the Alpine World Cup simply cannot find a way out of the negative spiral, especially in the men's event. After 20 races have been completed, the tally of victories is still at zero, and there have also only been five podium places.
Downhill as the biggest ÖSV construction site
The downhill is the Austrians' biggest area of concern: in four races, they have only managed three top 10 finishes, two of them by Vincent Kriechmayr. In ninth place, the 33-year-old from Upper Austria is also the only ÖSV racer to appear in the top 35 of the overall rankings after just over half of the season.
It is all the more regrettable that the double World Champion from 2021 in Cortina and 18-time World Cup winner recently injured himself in Wengen when he crashed in the finish S. Kriechmayr has been forced to withdraw from Kitzbühel, where he won the downhill in 2023 and the super-G in 2021, due to a severely strained inner ligament in his right knee. Participation in the World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, which begin on February 4, will be a race against time for the veteran.
The criticism of the Herminator
Without Kriechmayr, the local speed racers in Kitzbühel have one thing in common: despite some of them having more than 150 World Cup starts, they have never won a race at the top level. "You have to admit that it would be a coincidence for some athletes to finish in the top five," says Austrian skiing legend Hermann Maier, criticizing the quality of the ÖSV downhill team.
"We only have these skiers and we can't do magic," says head coach Pfeifer. Most recently in Wengen, Otmar Striedinger was Austria's top skier in 17th place, almost two and a half seconds behind. Daniel Hemetsberger, also 33, has never finished better than eleventh in the downhill this season, while Stefan Babinsky (28) was 15th at best. In view of the criticism the team is receiving, Striedinger said after the first training session in Kitzbühel on Tuesday that "the wisest thing to do is not to consume any media".
Austria is back?
Stefan Eichberger in particular gives cause for hope. The 24-year-old raced to 6th place in Val Gardena with bib number 56 and thus prevented a major ÖSV defeat. In the second training run on the Streif, he even finished second. As Hemetsberger was also fourth on Wednesday, the speaker in the finish area was already in euphoria and announced: "Austria is back."
This announcement may be true for this Friday (super-G) and Saturday (downhill). In the medium and longer term, however, it is more likely to be wishful thinking. While the Swiss, led by the still comparatively young team leader Marco Odermatt (27), the new speed generation around Franjo von Allmen (23), Alexis Monney (25) and Arnaud Boisset (26) has already ensured numerous victories and podium places and with Lars Rösti and Marco Kohler there are other up-and-coming racers, there is little prospect of rapid and lasting improvement for the arch-rivals in the east.
There is much controversy in Austria as to why the veterans are struggling with form problems and why there is a lack of young talent in the World Cup. According to the "Herminator", the malaise began early on, as he harshly criticized the ÖSV leadership at the time in a blog in 2013. Even back then, he complained that the association was focusing too heavily on a few top performers such as Marcel Hirscher. "He did his thing," says Maier, and covered up many shortcomings with his successes. "But," says the 54-time World Cup winner, "there was no joint training with the younger skiers. You only learn from the best." It is precisely this team dynamic, which has long been lacking in Austria, that he notices in the Swiss and Norwegians.
Feller and Schwarz as (technical) hopefuls
On the technical side, the Austrians are in a better position, as they have a broader team. However, Manuel Feller, who won the slalom discipline classification last year and was also on the podium twice in the giant slalom, is still looking for consistency this winter.
Marco Schwarz, who only returned from a cruciate ligament rupture in mid-December, is the second ÖSV top skier still waiting for regular top results. However, "Blacky" recently showed a clear upward trend in Adelboden with 9th place in the giant slalom and in Wengen with seventh place in the slalom. It is therefore not impossible that the exceptional talent will cause a storm of enthusiasm among the Austrian fans in Saalbach in February.
