After a difficult start, he redeems himself in super-G in Wengen: at 37 he is precious, so he mortgages his pass for China
He’ll be there too, and how if he’ll be there. Because in the end he always knows how to put his paw, because it is always better to have someone like that when it counts. Barring sensational reversals, at the age of 37 Christof Innerhofer will go to Beijing and experience his fourth Olympics, like the Italian giants of this sport. It is not yet official, but yesterday’s eighth place in the almost unprecedented super-G in Wengen is in fact worth the call, even regardless of the result itself. After a tiring start to the season, Inner is back. And today, in the first – and shorter – of the two scheduled runs on the Lauberhorn, it promises to have fun and still be entertained. Marco Odermatt wins as a master, in the final part he guesses some impossible lines for the opponents and brings home the sixth victory of the season, adding to the giant of Adelboden the other sacred scalp of the Swiss skiers; Aleksander Kilde and Matthias Mayer complete the podium, but are soundly beaten. And if the seventh place of Dominik Paris is a confirmation, the eighth of Innerhofer is the expected return of a champion who too often seems to fall asleep, but then wakes up at the right moment. Fast at the top, very fast in the final part (best time), some burrs in the central sector where he accumulates the second gap. No podium, but still proof of a newfound condition.
With the giants
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There is only one blue skier who has participated in five editions of the Games. It is Kristian Ghedina, present from Albertville 1992 to Turin 2006. Innerhofer in Beijing would rise to four, like Dominik Paris who was brought to Vancouver 2010, very young, to gain experience (he finished 13th in combined). Four are also Peter Fill, Denise Karbon, Chiara Costazza, Manfred Moelgg (who between Wengen and Kitzbuehel will look for the wild card in slalom to reach the Ghedo) and a certain Alberto Tomba. In this small club there are only two athletes who have been able to get on an Olympic podium, Tomba and Innerhofer, silver downhill and bronze combined in Sochi 2014. “Inner is one to wear, one who can say in big events his because he knows how to bring out his indisputable value “is whispered within the blue team. “Finally I was able to ski in a normal way, as I can do in training – Inner shielded himself last night -. The stop after Bormio did me good, as well as the two days of training in the giant at my house. the Kernen-S was perfect, but the speed was there, I looked for the slope. And in general it was a nice super-G, not at all trivial. In fact, the speed was there. We hit 138 km / h. Sometimes it is nice to change “. Useful information in view of the two descents of today and tomorrow? “Surely risk more in the Kernen-S”.
Kriechmayr case
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The first of the two runs, scheduled for today, will be a little shorter, starting from the start of the combined. The organizers have avoided imposing on the sprinters a weekend with two tests and two races of two and a half minutes, in addition to a super-G in any case over 1’40 ”. Surprisingly, Vincent Kriechmayr should also be at the start. The Austrian arrived in Wengen only on Wednesday evening: he was in quarantine for a Covid positive, the negative buffer that had released him had arrived too late to participate in one of the two tests of the descent. During the meeting of the captains last night, the FIS decided to give Kriechmayr – the reigning super-G and downhill world champion – the possibility, this morning, to carry out a mini-test in the upper part of the track, before the start of the race from the official start. “It is a decision against all regulations – blurts out Alberto Ghidoni, the blue head of speed – and a very dangerous precedent is created. Switzerland has announced an appeal, we will see how it ends”.
January 14 – 07:32
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