Skiing nation Austria in crisis – will the turnaround come at the home European Championships?

The battle lines seem to be clearly drawn ahead of the World Championships in Saalbach. Switzerland and Norway are the main medal contenders, Austria must hope for a turnaround in front of its home crowd.

The Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) had imagined things very differently – back in the fall four years ago, when the board of the International Ski Federation (FIS) with President Gian Franco Kasper at the helm announced Saalbach-Hinterglemm as the venue for this year’s World Championships.

The decision-makers in the ÖSV, which is now called Ski Austria, were convinced that their own delegation would use the appearance in their home country to underpin Austria’s status as a leading country in ski racing. The self-image did not allow for any other guidelines. The fact that a change was underway at the very top of the hierarchy, that Switzerland had won the duel for victory in the prestigious Nations’ Cup seven months earlier for the first time in 30 years, was noted but not interpreted as a warning signal. They certainly did not feel compelled to question their own system, including the promotion of young talent, at the top level of the ÖSV.

A different world

Four years later, the world is a different one for Austria’s Alpine athletes. Switzerland has overtaken Austria’s status as number 1 and the reality no longer lives up to the claim. Doubt, even despair and uncertainty have spread. Research into the causes has now begun, but the implementation of planned changes cannot be realized overnight. It is a lengthy process. It requires patience, regardless of the World Cup in your own country.

It should not be seen as an excuse to point out that developments among the traveling personnel have also contributed to the unpleasant turnaround. But it is certainly justified. When a three-time Olympic champion unexpectedly declares his retirement, as Matthias Mayer did in Bormio a good two years ago, it tears a hole in the team structure – not to mention the loss of substance. When the best all-rounder and Marco Odermatt’s first challenger in the battle for the overall World Cup suffers a serious knee injury, as happened to Marco Schwarz in Bormio twelve months after Mayer’s departure, it is nothing but bad luck.

And when a slalom world champion and discipline World Cup winner sees the appointment of a renowned coach as a bad decision and has to dismiss the collaboration as a “misunderstanding” after a few months due to uncertainty and sporting setbacks, as was the case with Katharina Liensberger and the Italian Livio Magoni, this can cause unrest in a team.

The next low point

From Austria’s point of view, the spiral moving in the wrong direction reached its next low point this winter. The wind, which was increasingly shifting to the side of the direct competition, developed into a hurricane in the weeks leading up to the World Championships, although it lost some of its strength again on Wednesday evening. Manuel Feller and Fabio Gstrein’s 2nd and 3rd places in the night slalom in Schladming were tantamount to a national relief. They were balm for the many wounds that many of the previous races had opened up.

Manuel Feller and Co. have rarely had things going their way this winter.

Keystone

Nevertheless, there are still figures that hurt in Austria, comparisons with the Swiss athletes, for example, and interim results that provide evidence of a World Cup winter that has been characterized by disappointments so far. The tabloids were not the only ones to scold the media, and even former greats such as Franz Klammer, Hermann Maier and Hans Knauss did not hold back with their criticism. The “Kronen-Zeitung” newspaper calculated that a Swiss quartet collected more World Cup points than all 24 Austrians combined who appear in the overall rankings. Marco Odermatt, Loïc Meillard, Franjo von Allmen and Alexis Monney have so far scored a total of 2493 points, the ÖSV athletes 2441 points.

As if that wasn’t bad enough: Austria’s men’s team is still without a World Cup victory this winter. It takes a long look back through the statistics to find the last season in which this was the case. It was 33 years ago. At the beginning of March, Günther Mader prevented the greatest disgrace of all by winning the Super-G in Panorama in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It remained the only victory by an Austrian on the men’s side that season.

Austria’s men’s zero in the World Cup winter so far compares to eleven Swiss victories. The Swiss-Ski racers have also achieved eight second and seven third places. Odermatt has seven victories to his name, while Justin Murisier, Thomas Tumler, Monney and Von Allmen have also reached the top for the first time. The Norwegians have also achieved seven victories. A quintet of Nordic skiers have also done so, namely Alexander Steen Olsen, Henrik Kristoffersen, Timon Haugan, Atle Lie McGrath and Fredrik Möller. The Swiss and Norwegians have every reason to travel to Glemmtal with confidence and a broad chest.

The third power

As in the men’s event, Austria is currently only third in the women’s event. Switzerland leads the team ranking ahead of Italy. In contrast to their male counterparts, the Austrians can at least boast victories – two of them, both won by Cornelia Hütter. The Swiss women have won once more so far. Camille Rast has dominated twice in the slalom ahead of Wendy Holdener, Lara Gut-Behrami most recently in the super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The Italians are in a much better position. Federica Brignone has already claimed five victories, Sofia Goggia two.

It goes without saying that the same names are also in high demand for the World Championships starting on Tuesday. All of these racers have the certainty that they don’t have to achieve anything extraordinary to have a say in the medals. The fact that a normal level of performance is enough to be a title or medal contender has a reassuring effect.

What the figures tell us: the Swiss teams, Norway’s men’s team and Italy’s women’s team have done very well so far this winter. But what the numbers also say: Austria’s Alpine skiers have been beaten several times, often lacking competitive luck. They have much more quality and potential than the results show. Or to put it another way: bad luck has often befallen them in a way that is so typical of phases in which (almost) everything that can go wrong goes wrong.

The line between success and failure remains narrow for the ÖSV riders. They are well aware of this in the ÖSV. However, they also know that sometimes all it takes is that one sense of achievement to turn things around. A World Championships in their own country would be the perfect opportunity to set a course correction on a big stage, to put the misery behind them, to restore their good reputation, to become a major skiing power again.

The Austrian Ski Association is also aware of the phrase about the laws of a major event. The significance has a different meaning for them this time. They take courage from it. They want to believe in it, hope in it. They don’t have much choice after the bitter “role reversal”.

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