Olympic Games 2018: Austria’s biggest medal hopes in Pyeongchang

On Saturday the 23. Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. While the ÖOC record of 23 medals in Turin 2006 will be difficult to beat, ÖSV President Peter Schröcksnadel wishes for 15 medals from the ski sector, which traditionally brings in the majority of precious metal.

But also in other disciplines the Austrian athletes have chances to be outsiders. SPOX gives an overview of the competitions that are most promising for the ÖOC Group.

Stadlober has already booked ten top 6 places this winter. In addition, the 25-year-old is fifth in the overall World Cup ranking, which makes her one of the extended circle of favourites,”I would trust myself to win the medal,”Stadlober said in the run-up to the question of a possible medal.

Especially the skating part of the circuit is very demanding. It will certainly be an exciting race,”said Stadlober, who loves steep climbs. She’s already made a plan for the race:”I’ll also make sure that I’m going to take over the pace at the beginning and assume that Heidi Weng and Charlotte Kalla will blow up the field”.

Right on the first day of the competition, the ski jumpers start. On the normal hill, which with a hillsize of 109 meters belongs to the larger ones, the Austrians are only outsiders.

Only Stefan Kraft has already made it onto the podium this season, and with 113.5 metres from last February he also holds the jumping record. However, he has not yet been able to win a victory this winter.

All four starters have already made it to the downhill run this year, Mayer even twice. The last victory in a men’s downhill is already one year ago: Reichelt won the race in January 2017 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

In the World Cup, Kriechmayr is the best placed Austrian in sixth place. Franz could become, after Franz Klammer (1976), Fritz Strobl (2002) and Matthias Mayer (2014), the fourth Carinthian to win gold in an Olympic downhill race. In the Olympic test two years ago, only Reichelt finished twelfth and Kriechmayr 29th. Franz and defending champion Mayer were not at the start due to injury.

Kindl, the 2017 double world champion, is one of the great contenders for the title in the Olympic Sliding Center’s ice rink. The four-time World Cup winner took second place in the overall ranking of the past season and was only beaten by German Felix Loch.

A hitherto disappointing winter will be embellished for the Austrian biathletes with a medal in Pyeongchang. However, Reinhard Gösweiner’s team probably needs a faultless performance on the shooting range, but the ÖSV men’s running times are too weak (except for Eberhard).

Eberhard, Eder and Landertinger, who had started the season late because of back problems, each had a top 5 result. So far, however, it has not been enough for the podium places this winter.