Ski king Marcel Hirscher fails in his attempt to complete the Olympic hat-trick, crown prince Henrik Kristoffersen throws away gold – and clears the way for Andre Myhrer.
Marcel Hirscher had already left the Drachenberg after his failed “Mission Hattrick” when this crazy Olympic slalom took yet another sensational turn for the better:”Hopefully I’ll get a ticket for a plane home”, the double Olympic champion had said after his outing after only 22 driving seconds how gold would fall to his crown prince Henrik Kristoffersen. But Kristoffersen retired in the final after only ten goals, and Andre Myhrer from Sweden surprisingly won the gold medal.
“This is an unbelievable feeling,”said Lund Svindal, the second oldest alpine Olympic champion after Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway/Downhill) at the age of 35,”I have worked so incredibly hard for so many years for this moment. I’m very proud, it’s unbelievable,” said Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf XVI, who looked at the grandstand in Yongpyong surprisedly out of the laundry as Myhrer cheered.
Since his majesty arrived in South Korea, his kingdom had experienced a strange streak of bad luck, the newspaper Aftonbladet asked after the “fiasco” in the ice hockey quarter-finals against the Germans:”Shouldn’t he be sent home?” On Thursday he was one of the first congratulators to Myhrers, who finished bronze in Vancouver in 2010 and was the first Swede ever to be awarded a bronze medal in the first round of his career.
Silver went to Ramon Zenhäuser (Switzerland/+0.84 seconds) ahead of Michael Matt (0.67). Four years after his brother Mario’s gold medal in slalom, the Austrian continued the family tradition – Brother Andreas had also won silver in the ski cross in 2010. Fritz Dopfer (Garmisch) finished 20th, Linus Straßer (Munich) failed in the first run.
Hirscher confessed that he had felt “sh…” in the presumably last Olympic race of his career. His skis, he said,”work great, just don’ t”. On top of that, the conditions were something for emotional drivers rather than motorbolts like him.
Hirscher added that he had been “more upset”, with two gold medals he had “gotten the maximum out of it”. However, he had won six of the last seven slaloms in the World Cup and was eliminated in February 2016. That’s what he’s been praying to the reporters back home for years, and it happens all the time.”You’ll never believe me,”he said on Thursday,”but believe it today.”
And Kristoffersen? The Norwegian had won every slalom in which he led after the first round, and if you want to win you have to risk,”he said about his harakiri run in the final:” I had too much speed.”
“Bitter” and “not funny”, DSV Alpine Director Wolfgang Maier found the presentation of his duo. While Dopfer had “mixed feelings” after a decent final, Straßer had to listen to Felix Neureuther’s criticism because he had pushed his end to the difficult snow conditions:”He shouldn’t look for excuses,”said the injured team leader who commented on the race for Eurosport.
As the last chance to win a medal, the first team competition for the German alpine skiers will be held on Saturday. Let’s look at it realistically,”he said,” I don’t feel like living with hopes anymore. You need top, top, top, top speed people – and we just don’t have them.”