Vincent Kriechmayr and Cornelia Hütter: A spark of hope

In the 2020/21 season, Vincent Kriechmayr received the first small crystal ball and was as happy as a snow king because it was “confirmation of consistent performance”. “I was very proud of that,” said the Gramastettner, who three years later has another small chance of winning the Super-G classification in the Alpine Ski World Cup. There is at least a glimmer of hope, although before the last race (11.30 a.m., ORF 1) in Saalbach everything speaks in favor of Marco Odermatt, who has a whopping 81 point lead.

Even if the 32-year-old, who will be loudly cheered on by his loyal fan club “Veni Vidi Vinc”, wins, a 13th place finish is enough for the Swiss to make everything clear. Odermatt shouldn’t rely on a decision at the green table, because the organizers are fighting like lions for the last races of this winter despite high temperatures and occasional rain.

“Full on attack”

“I firmly believe that we can get the program through,” says slope manager Fritz Steger confidently. FIS race director Markus Waldner is also a stranger to pessimism: “It looks as if we have these two Super-Gs under control.”

That would of course be in the spirit of Kriechmayr, who highly praises the crew’s tireless efforts: “They do a great job and do everything for the races. Hats off to them!” Now it’s up to the Mühlviertler, who was crowned double world champion in Cortina in 2021, to get the most out of themselves. “I’m going to go all out on the attack. Only the ball can save what I see as a modest season. That’s my goal, especially in a year in which we don’t have any major events,” he explained.

The fact that the great Odermatt is not immune to failure was shown in the giant slalom on Saturday. The dream of the perfect season went down the drain; the 26-year-old had previously won all nine races in this discipline. Which proves that anything can still happen, especially since Kriechmayr is considered a real specialist for World Cup final events. Five of his 18 triumphs came in the final week of a season – two in Aare in 2018, two in Courchevel in 2022 and one in Soldeu in 2023.

Not only Kriechmayr is still in the ball race, but also Cornelia Hütter, who will attack Lara Gut-Behrami in the Super-G from 10 a.m. (ORF 1). “I need a dream run, and Lara has to be in the garage,” says the Styrian, who is 69 points behind the Swiss.

If Hütter wins, Gut-Behrami cannot get past ninth place. The in-form Italian Federica Brignone – five points behind Hütter – is also still involved. Sounds exciting.