Thomas Dreßen caused a sensation at the World Cup downhill in Beaver Creek with third place. In the triumph of the Norwegian Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal ahead of world champion Beat Feuz, the 24-year-old rushed to the podium on the infamous predator piste.
Better was a German downhill skier last on 18. December 2004, when Max Rauffer won in Val Gardena. Six years later, Stephan Keppler was on the same track as the last German in a speed race on the “Stockerl”at the Super-G as the last German so far.
“I don’t even know what to say yet. It’s really a dream,”Dreßen told ORF radio:”From a very young age, people have been working towards getting onto the podium. Dreßen even attacked the best time of Svindal, who won the prestigious downhill as the first athlete for the fourth time.
In the second intermediate time, the Mittenwalder was 0.28 seconds ahead, and in the finish line he missed 0.49 seconds on the “Speed King”. Feuz was 0.15 seconds behind Svindal.
Andreas Sander also showed a strong performance and finished seventh. The DSV had a better duo at a World Cup downhill run last January 1992: Markus Wasmeier won at that time in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Hansjörg Tauscher was third. Sepp Ferstl didn’t make it into the top 20 in Beaver Creek.
Thirty’s coup didn’t come out of nowhere. Already in the last two winters, his first complete race in the World Cup, he hinted at his talent several times.
In February 2017 he was sixth in the top 10 in Kvitfjell. This season he took second place with two 14. The second place in Lake Louise was the Olympic ticket right at the start, on Friday he was in the Super-G of Beaver Creek tenth place.