Alpine skiing: Slalom stars intervene in Kitzbühel

Not since the 1984/85 World Cup season have the Austrians gotten up to speed as slowly as they did back then. Back then, the first podium finish was only in the tenth slalom; in 2024/25, seven slalom runs have been completed so far. Feller came closest in fourth place in Val d’Isere, where he was only six hundredths of a second behind the podium. But there are also four failures on his record.

“Of course, it’s easier if you come here with full confidence and results. But I can think back to last year, I definitely came here with more pressure. From that point of view, it might not be a disadvantage to be there in this situation. My skiing is still very good,” said Feller, who won three slaloms before Kitzbühel last year and only came fourth as the favorite in Kitz.

Fabio Gstrein was the best ÖSV starter this season in Madonna di Campiglio in tenth place and in Adelboden in fifth place. “Being the best Austrian and coming tenth isn’t exactly the best,” said the Ötztaler and laughed. “As the best Austrian, you want to be further ahead.” In order to achieve this, “like every one of us,” it is important for him to leave out the mistakes while at the same time “keeping his foot on the gas.”

Reuters/Denis Balibouse

Black not painless

The Ganslernhang is not easy terrain for this – and recently it has not been a favorite place for the Austrians in the World Cup: the last Kitz winner from the organizing country was Marcel Hirscher in 2017. No Austrian has been on the podium since 2020, when Schwarz was second behind Daniel Yule (SUI).

In Wengen, Schwarz achieved seventh place, his best result since his comeback after a torn cruciate ligament and a herniated disc. “It was incredibly important for the head,” said the Carinthian. He is still not completely pain-free. His back and knees do not yet allow the amount of training he would prescribe for himself.

Trio set for World Cup slalom

Schwarz, Feller and Gstrein will take part in the World Cup slalom and form the backbone of the team. The others can impose themselves in Kitzbühel and Schladming – like Michael Matt, who said: “I feel better than I have in four years.”

Dominik Raschner, who is likely to be a parallel specialist for the team competition, has an advantage. Runners who can compete in multiple disciplines generally have an advantage over pure specialists. Johannes Strolz and Adrian Pertl also want to recommend themselves. Christian Hirschbühl, on the other hand, does not have a starting place for Kitzbühel; Joshua Sturm got it by coach’s decision.

The fact that things aren’t going quite smoothly for everyone in the team this season is also an internal issue. “In our team we have a very close relationship with each other, and of course we talk about things like that. “Everyone knows that everyone can do more,” said Strolz. “We are missing a sense of achievement, with that everything would be easier,” said technical coach Martin Kroisleitner.

Norwegians with tailwind to Kitz

The Norwegians had one of these a week ago at the slalom in Wengen. Atle Lie McGrath won ahead of Timon Haugan and Henrik Kristoffersen. Because of his impressive consistency, the latter is also the leader in the Slalom World Cup; he has already won in Kitzbühel in 2016 and 2018. McGrath and Haugan have never been in the top three here. “Last year we waited a long time until our first win, until our last chance. But we also managed it,” said Norway’s head coach, Styrian Michael Rottensteiner, referring to Haugan’s success at the World Cup final in Saalbach.

“A result like that in the last race obviously gives you a lot of self-confidence,” said Haugan. His best result in Kitzbühel was twelfth place in 2020, when he sat in the leader’s chair for the first time. The expected weather would not be a disadvantage for the Norwegians, he said. “Nobody has trained more days in rain and warm conditions, I’m pretty sure.”