The German Thomas Dressen, winner in his career of five World Cup downhills, including Kitzbühel-2018, announced on Friday that he was giving up the Beijing-2022 Olympics (February 4 to 20), having failed to recover at time of knee surgery.
The 28-year-old sprint specialist had hoped to return to competition early enough to qualify for the Games, but his rehabilitation (currently cross-country skiing) has fallen behind.
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For Wengen (January 14-15) it's over, and I will not go to Kitzbühel either
" on January 21 and 22, he said during a virtual press conference, considering that the very difficult Austrian track was not suitable for a restart.
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And so it's over for the Games too,
" he added.
Last season, the German competed in only one race, the Cortina d'Ampezzo downhill, before having surgery on his right knee.
In 2020, his last full season, he triumphed on his snow in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, then in Austria at Saalbach-Hinterglemm.