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Myth Streif: Swiss Feuz makes Austria mourn again

2022-01-23T15:33:03.696Z


Safety is discussed at the legendary descent in Kitzbühel. Not all drivers like the track conversion, Beat Feuz copes best with it. The ski nation of Austria follows.


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Crossing the finish line at 140.19 kilometers per hour: Beat Feuz

Photo:

LISI NIESNER / REUTERS

Swiss generation duel:

Marco Odermatt is the alpine skier of the season. The 24-year-old Swiss is in first place in the overall World Cup by a wide margin. What did that mean for the legendary Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel? Odermatt drove another sensational race, for a long time it looked like a perfect run – like Stephan Eberharter did in 2004. He then made a small driving mistake on the edge of the Hausberg and only with difficulty did he get the next goal. And his compatriot Beat Feuz, who started shortly after him, took advantage of that. On Monday, the 34-year-old became a father for the second time and Feuz took the euphoria of personal happiness with him to the Streif. Up to Odermatt's mistake, the Swiss were at the same time, Feuz then found the slightly better line and shot to the finish line as the winner.

The race result:

Feuz won the Hahnenkamm race for the second time after 2021, the missing backdrop at the finish line due to the corona does not seem to bother him. Odermatt followed in second place, 0.21 seconds back, Daniel Hemetsberger (Austria) completed the podium.

Mythos Streif:

Normally up to 50,000 spectators flock to the Hahnenkamm, this year 1000 selected VIPs were admitted. The rich and beautiful are as much a part of the Streif myth as the icy route. The fascination for this unique warhorse race has not suffered even in Corona times. Mausefalle, steep slope, local mountain edge, traverse – every ski fan can relate to these names. The route is 3.3 kilometers long, at the steepest point the gradient is 85 percent, just before the finish jump the speedometer shows up to 140 kilometers per hour. The Streif also includes spectacular falls, in the long history since the first race in 1937 there have been countless serious injuries. This year all riders had to fight hard again, but made it to the finish line without crashing.

The weather god is British:

Actually, Sunday in Kitzbühel is reserved for the slalom. But this year, the organizers around head of organization Michael Huber had to change the schedule. Heavy snowfall was announced for Saturday, and the Streif is not suitable for driving in such conditions. So it was swapped without further ado – and Dave Ryding seized the opportunity to win the very first World Cup for a Briton. The fresh snow posed major challenges for Huber and his team. The whole night was leveled, cleared and prepared. Unlike on Friday, when Aleksander Aamodt Kilde won the slightly shorter additional descent, this time, thanks to hours of work, it was even possible to cover the entire Streif.

A controversial conversion:

In recent years there have been many serious falls on the edge of the Hausberg with the transition to the traverse. In 2016, Hannes Reichelt, Georg Streitberger and Aksel Lund Svindal ended up in the hospital one after the other, a year ago the American Ryan Cochran-Siegle was caught. Race director Hannes Trinkl has therefore changed the local mountain somewhat, changing the curve radius with an additional gate. Some drivers take a critical view of this, so the three-time Streif winner Dominik Paris (Italy) pleads for other changes and the retention of the original route.

Whistling in the woods:

For the broadcasting TV station ORF, the Streif is one of the highlights of the year, comparable to the Vienna Opera Ball. This is one of the reasons why the controversial camera drone returned this year. In 2015, Marcel Hirscher was almost hit by a drone, which is why the international ski association Fis had banned further operations for years. Now the comeback, pilot Daniel Ausweger presented the TV viewers with spectacular pictures of the approach to the local mountain. The journey was always accompanied by a clearly audible whistle.

The suffering of the ski nation:

Austria is so proud of its Streif winners. Four-time winner Franz Klammer, "Herminator" Maier, Eberharter and Fritz Strobl with his record time in 1997 are national heroes. But in the past 15 years, only two Austrians, Hannes Reichelt (2014) and Matthias Mayer (2020), have made it to the top of the Hahnenkamm podium. Behind Hemetsberger, Mayer ended up in fourth place, with the other hopefuls Vincent Kriechmayr (13) and Max Franz (14) clearly trailing behind.

The search for the Olympic form:

In the absence of Thomas Dreßen, Streif winner of 2018, the German downhill skiers also had a hard time.

Andreas Sander didn't take advantage of the early start number and ended up in 30th place after a slow ride. Romed Baumann was the best German in 15th place, followed by Josef Ferstl (20) and Dominik Schwaiger (22).

Ferstl had fallen in training, and you could see the respect he felt on his ride.

Now the focus is on the Olympic Games in Beijing - but a German alpine medal is unlikely after these achievements.

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2022-01-23

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