Ski Alpin: Why the men of ÖSV-Speed are as good as they were long ago

Since Sepp Brunner has been conducting Austria’s speed specialists, everything seems to be easier for them to handle. The Sepp doesn’t say much, but what he says fits like a fist on the eye,”Vincent Kriechmayr described the influence of the Styrian.

The Austrians clinched five podium places in the first four speed races in this World Cup winter in North America. Thanks to Kriechmayr’s success in the Beaver-Super-G was also a victory. The speed-cracks were better last in the 2010/11 season, when even three victories with the same total number had been on the credit side.

“The goal in Lake Louise of getting off to a good start has been achieved. But we are not satisfied with all of them,”said Brunner. The downhill in Beaver Creek, where Kriechmayr finished sixth, didn’t turn out to be as good as expected anyway,”We’ve reckoned after the practice that we’d be at the front with a few athletes.”

Nevertheless, the trend is promising, and the 59-year-old did not want to deny this either. A quartet – Kriechmayr, Hannes Reichelt, Matthias Mayer and Max Franz – has established itself among the world’s best, with each of these four already on the podium. Already in training the runners spur each other on to top performances, animosities don’t seem to exist.

“In the preparation, we attached a little bit of importance to certain things for everyone individually,”explained Brunner, who replaced Florian Winkler as head of the downhill run. At the same time, he pointed out that there is room for improvement in the collective when it comes to long bends. Maybe it doesn’t work everywhere.”

There were several reasons for the successful start:”First of all, it was a very good preparation, it was pleasant to work with the boys,”said Brunner. This was already evident in Chile, where the men of the ÖSV did not train this time in Portillo, but in La Parva, contrary to the plan. La Parva also has extremely long turns, which was certainly no disadvantage in the direction of the Olympics.”

Overseas, they also found the right conditions to be able to work on the known deficits on aggressive artificial snow. We also had a relatively healthy start to the season, which is very valuable for a downhill team. We know that some of them have a lot of potential, but they must be healthy,”Brunner made it clear.

A positive team spirit is extremely important for the veterans of the World Cup circus:”I think it’s important that the climate in the team is right. Then the service men will feel comfortable, the coaches will feel comfortable, the athletes will feel comfortable. And if something is created, you have to address it right away,”he explained.

Brunner’s own calm, deliberate manner is certainly not detrimental to the creation of this comfort zone, although he does not see his own contribution as being so important “I think we have brutally good coaches. Each of us is equal,”he stressed.

Brunner does not want to see his statements as criticism of the predecessors,”I believe that good work has also been done beforehand. There have been injuries, and you have to be a little lucky,”he said.

Moreover, there is still a lot to be done. The former coach of the Swiss downhill skiers, for example, sees the gap between the top riders in the team and other runners who no longer pass for the hopes of the next generation as a work order:”This has looked better in terms of training, it hasn’t worked out so far,”Brunner admitted.”I’m still convinced, they have more to offer.”