Kitzbühel weekend

A ray of hope for a turnaround

Stefan Babinsky at the start - 15 hundredths off the finish line.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Crisis in the downhill team? During the first training session on the Streif, the Austrians showed that it could work without VincentKriechmayr ...

Just a brief, bright ray of hope in the darkness of the current downhill season for the Ski Austria racers? Or a first glimmer of hope ahead of the World Championships? The result of the first training run on the Kitzbühel Streif on Tuesday was at least a mood booster for the red-white-red speed squad.

Stefan Babinsky (28) was only 15 hundredths off the fastest in training, Alexis Monney. 4.31 meters on the 3312 meter long Streif - not even two lengths of a conventional downhill ski.

Let's go! 3312 meters of skiing horror on the Streif.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Low expectations
This obviously did the Styrian a lot of good - but exuberant joy in the finish area logically looks different. The modest downhill season so far (no podium finishes) on the one hand, and the shock of the retirement of leading skier Vincent Kriechmayr on the other, have lowered expectations enormously ahead of the Streif spectacle.

"We're missing Vinc, no question about it. His professional work is a role model for us all. But there's no point in hiding, we have to face up to it. I'm not satisfied with my season so far either," said Babinsky, who came fourth in the second downhill a year ago.

Hemetsberger struggled: "Streif? Wild as ever."(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Daniel Hemetsberger, third in the downhill on the Streif in 2022, also preferred to keep his head down after training: "Yes, we all know how it goes. We just have to make sure we have our seven things together for the races." The man from Attersee also regrets the absence of leading figure Kriechmayr in Kitzbühel: "He's been on the podium here several times - we were able to hold on to him, he also took the media pressure on himself. Something like that helps enormously. But he's not here now."

Only six races without a top 6 finish
The bar is high for Austria's racers in the two races on the Streif (Friday Super-G, Saturday Downhill). Austrian racers have not finished on the podium in 21 Super-G races! 2019 - and Kriechmayr missed the podium by five hundredths. In the long history of the World Cup downhill in Kitzbühel, there have only been six (!) races without a top 6 finish for Austria.

Otmar Striedinger knows the Streif inside out.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

"Why can't we turn things around in Kitzbühel?" - Otmar Striedinger's question sounds a bit like fatalism. In 2019, he himself made it onto the downhill podium (3rd), he knows the Streif and its difficulties inside out. "Pressure? My biggest critic is myself. We all want better results in the team. But we can only get back up every day - and do our best."