The World Ski Championships get underway

It’s never been this hard! ÖSV cheers at the start?

Austria's team for the start: Gstrein, Brunner, Raschner, Truppe, Brennsteiner and Scheib (from left).(Bild: Sepp Pail)

Austria's team wants to get the World Championships off to a flying start today in the "toughest team competition ever". Fabio Gstrein, Stephanie Brunner, Dominik Raschner, Katharina Truppe, Stefan Brennsteiner and Julia Scheib will be competing for red-white-red.

The long wait is finally over! Today (15.15/live in the sportkone.at ticker) the 48th Alpine World Ski Championships will be officially opened in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. A spectacular opening show with several musical performances and a speech by FIS President Johan Eliasch awaits. For the first time ever, there will also be a medal decision on the first day - in a team parallel competition.

Steeper than ever: the parallel slope for today's opening event is a tough one.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

This is where Austria should win its first medal. "Yes, that's certainly the big goal," nods Fabio Gstrein, who, like Stefan Brennsteiner, Dominik Raschner, Stephanie Brunner, Julia Scheib and Katharina Truppe, is part of the Austrian line-up. The sextet beat Katharina Liensberger and Patrick Feurstein in yesterday's training run in Hinterreit.

The best 16 ski nations in the world - a total of around 600 athletes from 78 nations are taking part in the major event - will meet in knockout duels. Austria is seeded number two thanks to the Nations Cup. There are four runs per country duel, on a course in the lower part of the men's "Schneekristall" course. 380 meters long, on which it quickly goes steeply downhill after a flat start. "Certainly the most difficult team competition there has ever been," says ÖSV Alpine Director Herbert Mandl, who is hoping for a can opener: "This competition can be a mood booster." Truppe has a similar view: "We have the chance to get Austria off to a good start at the World Championships and create a liberating feeling with a medal."

However, red-white-red knows only too well that a team podium is not a foregone conclusion (Scheib: "You have to be wide awake"). The last time there was a World Championship medal was in Åre 2019. In Méribel in 2023, it was only tin. "I hope I don't have to apologize again this time," recalls Brennsteiner, who comes from Niedernsill, just twelve kilometers from the World Cup venue as the crow flies.

Suits even brighter red
Like all the other local aces on the slopes, the 33-year-old is wearing his usual red at the home event. However, the new racing suits from outfitter Schöffel are an even brighter shade. "The suits look great. The most important thing is that they are also fast," says Brunner. So that the end of the long wait for the home World Championships is also a pleasant one.