Switzerland competing with a B team? "Cheeky" - Beat Feuz annoyed by statement from Austria

Linus Hämmerli

5.2.2025

The Swiss team wins silver in the team event at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach.
The Swiss team wins silver in the team event at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach.
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Thomas Tumler listened to the words from an Austrian radio station the morning before winning silver in the team event. Switzerland was competing with the B team in the men's event, he was told.

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  • "Austria has a good chance of winning a medal because Switzerland is competing with the B team in the men's event," Thomas Tumler was told on the radio on Tuesday morning before the team event at the World Ski Championships.
  • A statement that really motivated Tumler and his colleague Luca Aerni.
  • Tumler with a smile after the World Championship silver medal in the team event: "We showed that you can also win a medal with the B team."

Switzerland wins its first medal in the first race of the World Ski Championships. The team with Wendy Holdener, Delphine Darbellay, Luca Aerni and Thomas Tumler skied to silver.

"A good day for us," says Tumler after the race on SRF. The Grisons native's day began with listening to an Austrian radio station. "Switzerland is competing with the B team in the men's event," it said. Austria therefore has a good chance of winning a medal.

Tumler adds with a smile: "This statement really motivated me and Luca to go full throttle. We showed that you can also win a medal with the B team." For Austria, the team event ended in the quarter-finals after the duel against Sweden.

Beat Feuz is a little less relaxed about the statement from Austria. "That's a bit of a cheek. After all, Thomas is the World Cup winner this season - and the Austrians don't have that many World Cup victories this season," the SRF expert lashes out.

Holdener still has three races to go

In the end, Switzerland can still celebrate. World Championship silver is Wendy Holdener's seventh medal in total at a World Championship. "Very cool," she says on SRF with a smile on her face.

Holdener still has three more races on the program after the team event (slalom, giant slalom, team combined). "I like competing at the World Championships. The more competitions and medal opportunities I have ... that just motivates me." She enjoys the fight, emphasizes the 31-year-old.

The competitions continue for Holdener in a week's time. She will be competing in the team combined next Tuesday, before her last two races are scheduled for Thursday (giant slalom) and Saturday (slalom) in a week's time.