Austria’s re-strength downhill riders have also shown their strength in the first training of Beaver Creek. The best time on Wednesday went surprisingly to “qualifier” Otmar Striedinger, who despite high number 36 on the Birds of Prey distanced his compatriot Vincent Kriechmayr by 0.40 seconds. Third fastest was the Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal.
After a previous snowfall, the demanding bird of prey runway was still relatively soft on Wednesday during the first scanning under overcast sky. Possibly the first was also the last training for the downhill on Saturday, because new snow is announced for Thursday. The race program in Beaver Creek starts on Friday with the Super-G and ends on Sunday with the giant slalom.
Striedinger had already driven strongly in Lake Louise last week. After a mixed year, the 27-year-old Carinthian has now taken a fresh impetus in the Speed Group 2 and seems to have returned to top form there.
“I don’t think about qualifications. All I can do is ski fast,” said Striedinger, who had already passed the “coach’s decision” for both races in Canada.
After his best time everything should be clear for “Otl” in Beaver Creek, if the training on Thursday actually has to be cancelled. The former top driver and Olympic fifth in 2014 in the Super-G (2 hundredths past bronze) is still not quite sure why it is going again. “I don’t know that for a fact myself. In our group we certainly have a super spirit and the direction is right,” he explained.
Kriechmayr, on the other hand, confirmed his current top form and was declared the top favourite for both races in the finish area of Svindal downhill. “He’s currently driving technically perfect,” said the Norwegian.
For super-technician Kriechmayr, the Birds of Prey is indeed an almost perfect plaster. “Here I scored my first points and last year I clinched my first victory in the Super-G,” he said about the track on which “the button opened” a year ago.
“It’s one of the most casual stretches ever, it always opens my heart. I love coming here again and again,” said Kriechmayr, who leads the overall World Cup standings. He explained his peak time as follows: “The competition has probably still done itself a little hard today. I already went to the limit on the steep slope, that was a success. I took two other corners and lost a lot of time.” He smiled at the songs of praise of the competition: “They just want to put the pressure on me.”
Super-G-Olympic Champion Matthias Mayer proved as training sieve winner that he gets his coordination problems nicely under control slowly. “I tried something again,” the Carinthian explained. “The runway was very soft, but this will probably not be much different on Saturday”, Mayer said in view of the coming snowfalls.
Lake Louise downhill winner Max Franz finished ninth immediately ahead of Hannes Reichelt. “A victory makes everything a little easier. I last drove such a good training here in 2012,” said the Carinthian with pleasure.
For Reichelt, Beaver Creek has also long been a kind of living room, where he also became world champion in Super-G in 2015. “The track’s probably been icier before. The gap annoys me a bit,” said the Salzburg driver, who has never won the downhill here before.