Beat Feuz missed his fourth victory in the Lauberhorn downhill. The Emmentaler finished second, 34 hundredths of a second behind Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr.
Vincent Kriechmayr on the way to victory.
Beat Feuz would have had the most valid reason to be upset about the extra sausage for Vincent Kriechmayr. As in 2019, Feuz finished second behind the Austrian in the Lauberhorn descent, and he would now be the sole record winner of this race if the jury had decided against Kriechmayr on Thursday instead of him.
Kriechmayr, the world champion in downhill and super-G, had missed both downhill training sessions because he was still in quarantine after a positive corona test. And the regulations state: no participation in the race without the start of training. Kriechmayr was negative again on Monday, but due to the quarantine regulations at home, he was only able to travel to Wengen on Wednesday.
On Thursday Kriechmayr rode the Super-G, nobody was bothered by that, there is no training beforehand. But then the jury strained their discretion to allow Kriechmayr to use the downhills. On Friday, before the inspection, he had to drive out of the start house and immediately swing down again, as ailing athletes who want to be part of the race can do in training sessions. Only that wasn’t training on Friday, but a Lex Kriechmayr.
Markus Waldner, who is also a member of the jury as FIS race director, said that the committee made the same decision for every athlete. Nevertheless, the jury’s decision triggered heavy criticism, especially at Swiss Ski. President Urs Lehmann spoke of arbitrariness, Alpine Director Walter Reusser of a kindergarten.
The jury could have made it easy for itself and insisted on the regulations, but Waldner said: “We want to avoid that someone cannot start because of this damn virus.” Only: Because of this damn virus, many have not been able to start.
The enraged could also see it that way once their tempers have cooled: The Lex Kriechmayr should now make it easier for other drivers to return after a positive test, and then the Lex Kriechmayr would just be another Lex Corona.
Beat Feuz didn’t want to join the chorus of critics. “It doesn’t have a stale aftertaste for me,” he said. “Vincent certainly played today that he had more strength than us. But you also have to say that there are no five athletes who can win such a race without having driven the whole distance once. » And there must be a reason that Franz Klammer will be invited to Wengen again next year. Along with Feuz, Klammer is the second record holder with three downhill victories on the Lauberhorn.
Feuz and the other drivers had driven down the mountain every day since Tuesday. For Kriechmayr, the advantage of having saved energy must have been slightly greater than the disadvantage of having to do without training impressions. But if someone has to put up with allegations, then not Kriechmayr, but the jury. The winner was noticeably uncomfortable in his own skin: “Of course I understand some of the discussions, but I’m still grateful, the jury decided.”
wengen Men’s World Cup Downhill: 1. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) 2:26.09. 2. Beat Feuz (SUI) 0.34 back. 3. Dominik Paris (ITA) 0.44. 4. Marco Odermatt (SUI) 0.46. 5. Matthias Mayer (AUT) 0.51. 6. Martin Cater (SLO) 0.66. 7. Aleksander Kilde (NOR) 0.98. 8. Stefan Rogentin (SUI) 1.36. 9. Otmar Striedinger (AUT) 1.67. 10. Max Franz (AUT) 1.77.
Further: 13. Niels Hintermann (SUI) 1.88. 22. Urs Kryenbuehl (SUI) 2.63. 25 Gilles Roulin (SUI) 2.93. 31. Justin Murisier (SUI) 3.65. – 48 drivers started, 46 classified. – Eliminated among others: Carlo Janka (SUI).