He did not hesitate to announce it even before the start of the season: Marco Odermatt wants to win Kitzbühel, the big race which is still missing from his extraordinary record. With injuries to Sarrazin and Kriechmayr, it seems only his own Swiss teammates could stop him from realizing his dream.
Marco Odermatt’s main rival presents himself with a big smile, all crowned by a crazy weekend in Wengen. Victorious in the super-g and 2nd in the downhill in front of his home crowd, Franjo von Allmen is full of confidence. After three 2nd places in downhill this season, he seems ready to open his victory counter in the premier discipline on the legendary Streif. On Wednesday, he was the fastest during the 2nd training before making a mistake at the Hausbergkante, a passage which had already been fatal to him last year when he was competing for the podium with his bib 29. If he masters this big turn to the left to enter the final traverse, he can legitimately eye victory.
Who to beat the Swiss?
In the French-speaking ranks, Alexis Monney won the first training session on Tuesday without forcing. Since his success in Bormio, the Fribourgeois has exuded incredible serenity. His elimination in Wengen did not affect him in any way. Eighth in 2024, he is a serious contender for the podium this weekend. Just like Justin Murisier, who loves this Streif even if the latter has not yet completely given him back this love. The Val de Bagnes skier still has to deal with a painful knee. The Wengen-Kitzbühel sequence offers no respite and Murisier will have to grit his teeth to produce his best skiing on Friday and Saturday.
With the list of injuries growing, that of the Swiss team’s rivals is following an inverse curve. However, there remain a few big customers, particularly in the Italian ranks. Mattia Casse won Wednesday’s training with authority and he has a revenge to take on the Streif. In 2023, he missed the podium by 4 hundredths. In 2016, he was unable to start with his bib 45 after having dominated training. Following numerous falls, the race was in fact interrupted after 30 competitors. Saturday may finally be Breaking Day in Kitzbühel.
Another Transalpine to watch: Dominik Paris. Triple winner of the downhill, he has a total of 6 podiums and does not intend to stop there. The Canadiens will also have a card to play thanks to James Crawford and Cameron Alexander. Their mission is to revive the madness of the Crazy Canucks (Ken Read, Todd Brooker and Steve Podborski), who all conquered the Streif in the early 80s.
The Austrians in tough
We cannot completely bury the Austrian team at home either. Yes, she is having a very difficult season without a podium in downhill. Yes, she lost her leader Vincent Kriechmayr (injured internal ligament in Wengen), now launched into a crazy race against time to be at the start of the Worlds in Saalbach, but she has pride.
-The routine Stefan Babinsky (4th last) and Daniel Hemetsberger (3rd in 2022) will have to take their responsibilities, while the young Stefan Eichberger can be the surprise of the leader. Interviewed in the Austrian press, the king of the Streif Didier Cuche hopes to see the Wunderteam regain its splendor in order to rediscover this great Swiss-Austria rivalry. He’s right. Alpine skiing needs great duels like it was able to deliver in the past with Stefan Eberharter or Michael Walchhofer.
John Nicolet, Kitzbühel
>> Also read: When skiers flirt with the limit
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