Ski World Championships: Switzerland Achieves Triple Victory in Men's Team Combined

The men's team combination at the Ski World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm turned into a Swiss triumph. Franjo von Allmen/Loic Meillard won ahead of Alexis Monney/Tanguy Nef and Stefan Rogentin/Marc Rochat. The Austrian teams went empty-handed on Wednesday. Daniel Hemetsberger/Fabio Gstrein were fifth, Manuel Feller/Vincent Kriechmayr, Dominik Raschner/Stefan Eichberger, and Marco Schwarz/Stefan Babinsky were eliminated in the slalom.

In the downhill in the morning, Monney relegated world champion Von Allmen to second place by two hundredths of a second, Hemetsberger handed Gstrein fourth place with a 0.95-second deficit. Kriechmayr/Feller were 13th with a 1.31-second deficit, Eichberger/Raschner 17th with a 1.81-second deficit, and Babinsky/Schwarz in 21st position with a 2.46-second deficit.

"Tried Everything"

"Hemmi tried everything, I tried everything. On the whole, I think we both skied well. It just wasn't meant to be because the external conditions didn't fit," said Gstrein, who had the seventh fastest time in the slalom. He was also referring to the salted piste and the time gaps - large ahead, very close behind. "I think Switzerland 1 and 2 already had a pretty good lead with the downhill. And Marc Rochat skied a bit ahead of me, which makes a big difference on such a piste."

Hemetsberger felt that everything turned out "a bit stupid." "Those who skied ten numbers ahead of him were only about three tenths behind. If I'm three tenths slower, he has a much better number. Then we would probably be a bit further ahead with the run because the piste would have been better. But he did it really well, it's fine," said the Upper Austrian.

Swiss Triumph

There was a jubilant atmosphere a few meters away in the Swiss camp. "Incredibly cool, the performance of the entire Swiss team. This is something for the history books," said the now double world champion von Allmen. "I am still satisfied with a top ten result in my second World Cup season. That's why what is happening here is beyond words for me." Meillard said: "This is simply brilliant. It shows that we can all ski well and are all fit." Von Allmen/Meillard were 0.27 seconds ahead of Monney/Nef and 0.43 seconds ahead of Rogentin/Rochat. Hemetsberger/Gstrein were 37 hundredths of a second short of bronze.

It was the first Swiss triple success at a World Championship since the downhill in 1987 in Crans-Montana, when Peter Müller prevailed over Pirmin Zurbriggen and Karl Alpiger. In total, there have now been three triple victories for Swiss-Ski. In 1931 at the first Ski World Championship in Mürren, Walter Prager won the downhill ahead of Otto Furrer and Willi Steuri. In Saalbach, the Swiss men have so far won all the individual gold medals. Marco Odermatt triumphed in the Super-G, followed by von Allmen in the downhill.

Several Dropouts

The race for the medals began almost with Feller as the 17th starter in the slalom. But the Tyrolean dropped out in the middle section after good intermediate times. "I know from the last few weeks that I am currently skiing slalom really well. The training went extremely well and up to that point, it was also very, very good. But the piste deteriorated a bit and the course was rather on the tighter side, then I got into trouble once or twice. But in that situation, you don't want to ease off," he explained.

"It's a pity. If I had skied a bit better, Felli would have been in a better situation. The way he skied up to his straddle, he was certainly one of the best athletes at work today," explained Kriechmayr.

Raschner also straddled. "The straddle happens quickly in slalom, especially under these conditions," said the Tyrolean. It had softened a bit, but the base of the piste was "superb." Schwarz explained that he had "struggled cleanly." "It is a very tight course setting, very turning," said the Carinthian. In the last part, he wanted to make up time, "then it was perhaps a bit early that I let the ski go." For him, too, the competition ended with a dropout - just like for the South Tyrolean Alex Vinatzer, the French Olympic champion Clement Noel, or the Swiss Daniel Yule.

(APA/Red)

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