This is the nice surprise of the week. Victim of a heavy fall during the descent of Wengen on Saturday, Vincent Kriechmayr could already make his return to the World Cup on Friday on the Streif. The Austrian, who carries the hopes of an entire people on his shoulders, is in any case included on the start list. He should also start with bib 7 of the Kitzbühel super-G.
The early return of Vincent Kriechmayr comes as a bit of a surprise as he was announced as suffering from “a serious medial ligament sprain in his right knee”. This type of injury generally takes several weeks to heal. But the 33-year-old Austrian is in a hurry. If he missed the downhill training this week in Tyrol and will therefore not be able to be at the start on Saturday, he therefore hopes to take part in the super-G on Friday. A super-G which will be the first in Kitzbühel since 2021, when a certain… Vincent Kriechmayr won ahead of Marco Odermatt.
The expected cold during the night
The departure of the Austrian star may also be linked to atmospheric conditions. While there may be fog in the morning in the region, it will dissipate for the super-G at 11:30 a.m. The rain (and snow at the top of the course) that fell this Thursday should not affect too much the quality of a track already somewhat softened by the positive temperatures of the last few days. The organizers are banking heavily on the cold that could arrive overnight in Kitzbühel.
However, for the race, temperatures between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius are forecast. It will probably be better to start with a small bib. Alexis Monney (5) also did well in this game. Marco Odermatt (8), Franjo von Allmen (9) and Stefan Rogentin (10) were also rather spoiled. This is less the case for Justin Murisier (16) and Loïc Meillard (18), who were hoping for a number between 1 and 5). Arnaud Boisset will leave with the 25 and Lars Rösti with the 29.
-Rain for the Sunday slalom?
Note that if the sun will shine for the big event of the Hahnenkamm descent on Saturday (and temperatures up to 12°C), this will probably not be the case on Sunday for the slalom. Rain and foehn are expected for the second round. Here again, organizers hope that the forecasts are rather inaccurate.
Finally, the FIS is very concerned about the holding of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen downhill just before the World Championships. Conditions in Bavaria are not good. It will already be complicated to organize women’s races this weekend in the German heat and the men’s downhill scheduled for Sunday February 2 is in great danger. The FIS also sent a representative to Saalbach, just a few kilometers from Kitzbühel, to check the condition of the slopes ten days before the start of the big winter event.
Laurent Morel, Kitzbühel
