Odermatt's crazy numbers ("I was only aiming for the top ten") and Kriechmayr's premiere: "I risked my... life"

The first race on the Saslong gave rise to a new duel, with the world champion beating the Swiss phenomenon, on his twelfth consecutive podium in the World Cup (7 out of 7 this season) and who will also make the second downhill, despite what decided at first. Kilde: "Marco gives me the incentive to fight even more".

Thursday 15 December 2022 6 minutes reading time

A very tight descent, on the other hand it was quite predictable that over the 1''25” of the race instead of the more than 2 minutes of the complete Saslong, the first of the triptych in Val Gardena would have been an all-out battle. The moment in which Marco Odermatt, and with him many enthusiasts and insiders, thought that this time he would have managed to conquer the first success in a World Cup downhill lasted a couple of laps. , after having burned Matthias Meyer for 2 cents. Then came Vincent Kriechmayr, the man you don't expect right here (even if the shortened race clearly put him back in the running), and here the general leader was 11 cents short of achieving this objective too. Second place, for the sixth time in the queen discipline, but the numbers of "Odi" are simply crazy, as a man who can already write pages of history this season, in which he competed in seven races always climbing on the podium (with three victories, three second places and one third); however, we are at twelve consecutive top 3s in the cup, given that the Swiss phenomenon dropped from a podium for the last time in March, on the occasion of the super-g in Kvitfjell finished in 28th position. To the microphones of Rai Sport, Odermatt said he was amazed at what was done, he who among other things was making his debut in the Val Gardena downhill. “I never thought I'd get such a result – he told Ettore Giovanelli on the microphone – It's a big surprise, at most I was aiming for a top ten. What will I do now? We thought about skipping the descent on Saturday, before the giants in Alta Badia, but at this point I think I'll be there". His direct rival for the absolute crystal ball, albeit now 175 lengths apart (600 pts against 425), or Aleksander Aamodt Kilde today 5th on "his" track, is not too disappointed, aware that in such a short descent anything could have happened today. "I had a good race - explained, in the interview granted to Rai Sport, the Norwegian who remains the specialty red bib - Today we knew that the gaps would be reduced and clearly I was missing something, but I can't be disappointed with the performance . The challenge with Odermatt for the cup? He gives me even more stimulation with his results, I will continue to fight. Yes, the plan is also to climb the giants on the Gran Risa”. Vincent Kriechmayr, with his thirteenth seal in the World Cup, gave Austria its first success of the season (including the women's sector): "I risked my life - his words to the ORF after the match – I've always looked for the limit, at Ciaslat I kept maybe a two percent reserve. With such a short descent, you can't give away a millimeter, I tried to stay on the wire enough from top to bottom". Matthias Mayer, on his second podium of the season with another third place in the super-g of Lake Louise, smiles: “I managed to do a good test, even if you always find something to file somewhere. I lengthened the line a bit on the camel's humps, I lost a few cents there if I really have to indicate a point where I could have done better”.

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