Five at the top

Demonstration of power! Eight ÖSV ladies in the top 10

Nadine Fest scores points in the World Cup in St. Anton this weekend.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Five ÖSV ladies at the top, a total of eight in the top ten! The first training session for the two European Cup downhill runs in Zauchensee on Monday brought back memories of the "good old days", when red-white-red was still THE fashionable color combination in skiing and Austria was also the undisputed number one in the World Cup. 

After the local ski fans were able to celebrate Stephanie Venier's second place in the super-G at the women's World Cup in St. Anton am Arlberg last weekend, but hoped in vain for a home win, the chances seem good that there will be more than just a podium these days, at least one league below. At least that's what the first training session for the European Cup downhill races on Wednesday and Thursday suggests.

Concentrated ÖSV power
With a time of exactly 1:07.00 minutes, Carinthia's Nadine Fest, who has World Cup experience, set the clear best time. She was followed by her compatriot Carmen Spielberger (+0.40), Elisabeth Reisinger (+0.84) from Upper Austria, Lena Wechner (T/+1.00) and Michelle Niederwieser (V/+1.16), four more ÖSV ladies. The strong result was rounded off by local hero Viktoria Bürgler (7th/+1.29), Vorarlberg's Leonie Zegg (8th/+1.35) and Styria's Anna Schilcher (10th/1.49).

Junior World Champion Victoria Olivier.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Downhill Junior World Champion Victoria Olivier came 17th in her first run on the "Kälberloch" slope, 1.92 seconds behind. "I had imagined the course to be much worse. But due to the current conditions, it is rather slow," admitted the Vorarlberg native, who is the best Austrian in second place in the overall European Cup rankings.