After the first training on Tuesday, where Mayer finished 13th, there was a break on Wednesday in Wengen despite the perfect conditions to spare the slopes. The second race on the longest run in the World Cup calendar is on Thursday before the 90th Lauberhorn race in the shadow of the mountain giants of Eiger, Mönch with the combination (10.30 a.m. or 2.00 p.m., live in ORF1) and virgin be opened.
Mayer used the day off to indulge in childhood memories. “The two races in Wengen and Kitzbühel were the highlight for me as a child. I was always looking forward to that, which I entered on the calendar,” said the 29-year-old. Wengen was the most beautiful descent in the World Cup year for him, Mayer, Kitzbühel explained, the most demanding and spectacular. “They have a completely different character.”
According to Mayer, the character of the route on the Lauberhorn is above all the “long, smooth” curves. “Where you can take a lot of speed with smooth driving and have to manage the whole thing. In Wengen there are passages, where of course you always have to make sure that you are fast, but you can still have a little stroll. You don’t need to be as ready as in Kitzbühel, ”said the two-time Olympic champion. Back then little Matthias jumped and drove the Hundschopf and the Kernnen-S, which was notorious as Brüggli-S when Mayer was a child: “You always saw spectacular pictures.”
Tight and treacherous
In Wengen, in particular, many races have been won or lost in Wengen. Mayer also had enough experience with the extremely narrow key section before the athletes hissed under the Wengen Alpbahn. For example, last year when he said he tried too much risk and ultimately failed: “I easily got on my shoe and slipped away. I only need to lose one and a half meters from my line, it is no longer going out and the race is over. It is very bitter. “
The Carinthian description of the key position speaks for itself. “The path is narrow, three and a half meters wide, completely icy, the whole S is the icy point on the entire route. The entry speed was 110 km / h yesterday. You’re driving straight up the wall, you know it’s a chicane that you have to push through. If you don’t drive at full throttle, you are not fast on the exit and lose a lot of time afterwards, ”says the 29-year-old.
Past experience would not help much, Mayer says, because the Kernen-S is not the same every year. “Last year, many of them went to the cut without a slide. Which, according to today’s analyzes from yesterday’s training, will probably not be possible this year, ”said Mayer. To get the core S is therefore an art: “You just have to weigh up between risk and a bit of reason.”
With full attack to childhood dream
In any case, the slope is perfectly prepared this year. The 4,270-meter descent brings the athletes to their physical limits, but after the training on Tuesday, the runners were not as tired as in Bormio, despite the length. “The more restless, the more strenuous it is because you have to work more with your feet, because it always knocks you out of position and you have to fight your way back,” said Mayer. But: “You have to attack a lot, sometimes risk, so that you are really fast.”
Third in 2018 and sixth in 2014 were Mayer’s best results so far in the Wengen downhill. Assembling the best sections, he would have come very close to the perfect ride. “I have certainly had the best time in every section, whether that is gone upstairs, in the S, over the mashing edge or cross-country. I know that I can drive very quickly anywhere. If I put it all together, I would have had a good trip. ”On Sunday the Carinthian has the next chance to fulfill his childhood dream of the Wengen victory.
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