Fourth and fifth place

Ländle junior athletes miss out on the medals

Leonie Zegg(Bild: GEPA)

The medals Austria had hoped for at the start of the Alpine Junior World Championships in Tarvisio, Italy, came to nothing. In the downhill races - which were held in two runs due to the weather conditions - the Swiss came out on top in the end, as is so often the case with the "big boys".

A journalist with Swiss roots, of all people, spoke of a "stupid decision" on Thursday morning when it became clear that the downhill on the "Di Prampero" slope on Monte Lussari would be run as a sprint race in two runs after heavy rainfall - snow in the upper section, heavy rain in the lower section. A request to postpone the downhill to Friday and to race the two team combos on Saturday was rejected by the jury.

The race was therefore run on a shortened course from the Super-G start - which meant that the course had little to do with the one on which the only training session was held on Tuesday. "There are two turns and it's almost all flat," said ÖSV Junior Director Harald Kirchmair, who nevertheless spread a positive mood before the races. 

Two hours late, flat and only two bends
The women's race started at 11 a.m. after a two-hour delay and it quickly became clear that any mistake on this day would be one too many and that the equipment would have to work perfectly. At the halfway point, Switzerland's 2023 Junior Downhill World Champion Stefanie Grob was 0.14 seconds ahead of her compatriot Jasmin Mathis and France's Garance Meyer (+0.26). With Leonie Zegg (6th/+0.38) and defending champion Victoria Olivier (7th/+0.45), Austria's hottest guns were still well within reach of the medals.

Defending champion Victoria Olivier finished in fifth place.(Bild: GEPA)

In the final, Olivier then took the lead after her run from local hero Sara Thaler, who has World Cup experience, but was immediately overtaken by her Vorarlberg compatriot Zegg, who was 0.13 seconds faster than "Vici" in the end. When first US girl Allison Mollin and then the fourth-placed after the first run, Switzerland's Alina Willi, lagged behind the Austrians, there were faint hopes of a medal win in the ÖSV camp.

Stefanie Grob was already able to celebrate downhill gold at a Junior World Championships in St. Anton in 2023.(Bild: GEPA)

But nothing came of it. Because neither Garance Meyer nor the two leading Swiss racers made a dent and set the three fastest times, just like in the first run. In the end, Grob secured her second Junior World Championship title in the downhill with a lead of just 0.01 seconds over Mathis, the sixth medal in total for the Appenzell native at junior championships. Meyer took bronze 0.29 seconds behind. Zegg was ultimately 26 hundredths off the podium. "Our runners certainly didn't benefit from the shorter course," Kirchmair was convinced. "Unfortunately, not everything came together for us like it did for the Swiss women."

Zegg takes "tin" calmly
"Of course it's a shame, but in the end I'm happy that I can be there at the award ceremony," said Zegg, who, like Olivier, has her next chances in the super-G and team combined on Friday. If it is possible to race - the latest weather forecasts predict further snowfall, the program does not seem to be fixed yet.

Fernsebner save the opening day
Matthias Fernsebner from Salzburg ensured that the ÖSV camp was able to celebrate a little on Thursday after all. The 19-year-old from St. Martin bei Lofer finished 0.14 seconds behind Felix Rösle (D), who finished two hundredths ahead of Philipp Kälin (Sz), to take bronze.