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No podium, but a quartet around Marco Odermatt in the top 8: the Swiss downhill team defies flu and icy Stelvio.
The pedestal – and Odermatt
- 1. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) 1:54.68 minutes
- 2. James Crawford (CAN) +0.40 seconds
- 3. Aleksander Kilde (NOR) +0.68
- 4. Marco Odermatt (SUI) +1.46
The bad news in Bormio from a Swiss perspective made the rounds hours before the start of the race: in addition to Beat Feuz, another trump card, Niels Hintermann, had to be declared forfeit – for the same reasons. The Zürcher Unterländer, who was still a strong third last year, was unable to tackle the exhausting descent due to flu symptoms.
It was perhaps the most difficult race we have ever driven.
The probability that there would probably not be an absolute Swiss day of joy increased by leaps and bounds when Marco Odermatt had completed the Stelvio. The 3-time downhill podium driver this season was already 73 hundredths behind the best time after the first 30 seconds of driving, which meant that the top 3 position was gone. “I was surprised by the deficit. It was perhaps the most difficult race we have ever driven, »said the Nidwaldner afterwards. Since the 2018 season, there has always been a Swiss on the downhill podium in Bormio, but this series has now broken.
Vincent Kriechmayr set the unbeatable best time of the day with an almost perfect ride on the restless Stelvio. After Gröden, the Austrian doubled with his 14th World Cup victory. The surprising James Crawford and the previous downhill dominator Aleksander Kilde completed the podium.
The other Swiss
- 6. Urs Kryenbuehl +1.88
- 7. Justin Murisier +2.17
- 8. Gilles Roulin +2.18
- 15. Stefan Rogentin +3.07
- 21. Alexis Monety +3.27
- 44. Joshua Mettler +6.41
Bormio remains a good place for Urs Kryenbühl. The Unteriberger, who had celebrated two of his three previous podium places at the same place, was happy about the best result since December 2020. Right behind him were giant slalom specialist Justin Murisier, previously only twice in the downhill points (26th/30th), and Gilles Roulin.
Stefan Rogentin had the thankless task of opening the icy Stelvio, including the up to 50 meter long San Pietro jump, with start number 1. The man from Graubünden mastered this test with ease and just missed out on the top 10. Ultimately, despite illness, Swiss-Ski can look back on a strong team performance in the extremely difficult race.
The local boy and the absentees
Dominik Paris, after all a 6-time winner on the Stelvio, couldn’t compete for the absolute top positions. In ninth place, the South Tyrolean, who had never been better than 18th in this racing year, at least managed the clear personal best of the season.
The Austrian Matthias Mayer, Bormio winner of 2020, had to declare Thomas Dressen (GER) forfait after the fall in Val Gardena, like Hintermann because of flu. The former had prevented Kriechmayr’s first downhill victory in Lombardy in 2020: by a mere 4 hundredths of a second.
This is how it goes
On Thursday, the Super-G in Bormio will be the last World Cup race of the year. In the new year, the technicians are first in demand: On January 4th, Garmisch-Partenkirchen will be the venue for a slalom, on January 7th and 8th there will be the technical races on the legendary Chuenisbärgli in Adelboden.