No curfew

Assinger after silver: “I have no more tears!”

Mirjam Puchner, Roland Assinger and Stephanie Venier (from left to right)(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Women's head coach Roland Assinger shed fewer tears on Saturday than when Stephanie Venier won the Super-G title. Not because he was less happy with Mirjam Puchner and her silver medal in the World Championship downhill in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. 

"When I hug Miri, they're all in a hug, otherwise it goes quite well. Maybe I already have enough routine. Or maybe I shed so many tears two days ago that I don't have any left."

Mirjam Puchner, Roland Assinger and Stephanie Venier (from left to right)(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Two speed races at the home World Championships have been completed, two medals for the ÖSV women enrich the medal table: "World champion and vice world champion sounds pretty damn cool," said Assinger. This should finally ignite the euphoria in the World Championship host country, with 15,800 fans in Hinterglemm at the foot of the Zwölferkogel on Saturday. "Let's make sure we carry this positive input into the other competitions. Maybe we can still do something."

For example, on Tuesday in the team combination, where one downhill skier and one slalom skier form a team. "The team combined will be an extremely exciting match. The chance of a medal is active." Assinger rates the Italians and the Swiss as strong. "I think they'll be keen for revenge." The Swiss women's team have missed out on a medal in the individual races so far, with silver in the team competition to their credit.

There's no curfew for celebrations
But for now, the Austrian women's team can celebrate for once. "Let off steam and concentrate again tomorrow. For me, that means having a nice meal, a glass of wine and then I'll go to bed," said Assinger, who appeared for the interviews wearing ski goggles, which meant that the seriousness of this statement could not be read from his eyes. In any case, there are no rules for the athletes. "We're not in kindergarten, they know that themselves."

Having traveled to Hinterglemm with no better season result than tenth place, Puchner made the World Championship team with strong training performances. "After training, the word is that she has a chance of a medal. All I hear in the opening credits is gold, gold, gold. She did a great job of blocking that out and doing what she's shown over the last few days. She stayed very cool and gave it her all. The silver medal came out, perfect," said Assinger, praising the cool-headedness of his athlete in her home country.