Alpine skiing: Dreßen brings downhill classics in Garmisch

So there were home wins for the four downhill classics. The Italian Dominik Paris, who had to end the season prematurely due to a cruciate ligament tear, was ahead in Bormio, Beat Feuz won in Wengen and Matthias Mayer recently in Kitzbühel on the Streif. The Carinthian was missing in Garmisch due to flu.

The Kitz-Second Kriechmayr almost jumped into the breach for Mayer this time, was even in the lead in the penultimate timekeeping in the best, fast conditions. Only in the lower area and in the target shot of the crisp Kandahar route did the Upper Austrian lose the decisive hundredths of a second on the podium and Dreßen, who had presented the benchmark with number one and was able to look forward to his fourth World Cup victory after a long wait.

On the trail of Wasmaier

The last German victory in the Garmisch downhill was Markus Wasmaier in 1992. “Brutal that we haven’t won in so long. A win at home is always particularly nice, a dream, ”said the 27-year-old. Except for the entrance to “Hell”, he got everything almost optimally. “I wanted to stay close and in the best possible position, mega,” said Dreßen, who compared the feeling of happiness after this home win with that after his World Cup debut on the Streif two years ago.

Kriechmayr had lost around four tenths of a second in the final part on Dreessen. After minor problems before that, he wanted to risk even more on the target curve and drive it closer. “But then I got too much pressure, I was already tired. I quickly realized that I didn’t take the pace into the target shot. Annoying. I took a very close look at the line and wanted to drive rounder. Stupid, ”said Kriechmayr, who was otherwise happy with his performance. “It was a good trip.”

Franz single-digit for the first time

Max Franz was also satisfied, who finished ninth after his 15th place in Kitzbühel his best World Cup result this season. The 30-year-old Carinthian, who had proven to be in sixth form in training, was only 0.52 seconds short on Dreessen. Daniel Danklmaier was 16th (+0.94) and third best Austrian. Otmar Striedinger swung to 21st place (+1.08) a week after the severe crash in Kitzbühel. There were no World Cup points for Christian Walder (1.91), Johannes Kröll (2.35) and Stefan Babinsky (2.70).

The downhill had come to a rather unusual end for the Swiss Feuz. Sixth, 0.35 seconds behind, the 32-year-old was not on the podium in Garmisch for the first time this season after two wins, two second and two third places. Feuz expanded his leadership in the Downhill World Cup in the absence of Paris and Mayer. Feuz (520) is now 136 points ahead of Paris. Third is Kilde (307) ahead of Dreßen (306) and Kriechmayr (304). Mayer (300) dropped back to sixth place.

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