The Swiss-Ski squad currently offers high quality and quantity, and the competition is particularly fierce in the men's speed category. A circumstance that guarantees success, but also brings hurdles.
10.02.2025, 20:00
SDA
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- The Swiss men's speed team is currently dominating the ski circuit.
- The density of the Swiss squad is enormous. This has its downsides, especially as promising athletes cannot find a place in the World Cup team.
- Walter Reusser, CEO Sport at Swiss-Ski, is aware of this downside. The most important thing is to be honest, as bitter as that is for the athletes concerned.
World Championship downhill in Crans-Montana 1987: Peter Müller triumphs ahead of his teammates Pirmin Zurbriggen and Karl Alpiger. Franz Heinzer, another Swiss athlete, follows in 4th place, with Daniel Mahrer in 6th place - another Swiss-Ski athlete.
38 years later, the Swiss once again dominate the supreme discipline, both in the World Cup and at the World Championships. Franjo von Allmen triumphs in Saalbach, bronze goes to Alexis Monney. Two young Swiss, 23 and 25 years old, who step into the breach when leading man Marco Odermatt doesn't have his best day - as he did on Sunday.
The direct route to speed
The Bernese Oberlander and the Fribourg native are emblematic of the young guns in the Swiss team who are putting pressure on the established forces. Unlike Marco Odermatt or Justin Murisier, for example, who took their first steps at World Cup level in the technical disciplines, Von Allmen and Monney went straight into speed. In a profession where experience is worth more than bravado, where success is planned with foresight.
While experienced racers dominated the super-G and downhill in previous decades, a new era began with Odermatt at the latest. Thanks to tips from his "foster father" and team colleague Beat Feuz, a quick grasp of things and above-average talent, he rose to the top of the world rankings in less than three years.
Other skiers from the Swiss-Ski team followed a similar path, most notably Von Allmen and Monney. Both enjoyed the federation's basic training and had to compete in all disciplines up to U18 level before it was decided in the European Cup which direction to take.
An investment in the future
"We may lose some time to other nations that specialize earlier," says Walter Reusser, CEO Sport at Swiss-Ski. "But we'll make up for it later." He cites FIS and European Cup downhill races as an example. "It's not always the best skiers who win there, but sometimes the best gliders. But that alone doesn't get you any further later, it catches up with you in the World Cup."
Franjo von Allmen, for example, was also a talented slalom skier. He just had even better prerequisites for the speed area with his physique and mindset. However, Reusser also raises a warning finger at the greatest possible success. "If it's easier in the downhill than in the slalom, you have to make sure that not everyone is drawn there."
Swiss-Ski has an unprecedented breadth in the men's speed category since the 1987 triumphs in Crans-Montana. While in the past it was lone warriors such as Urs Lehmann, Bruno Kernen, Didier Cuche or most recently Beat Feuz who held the Swiss flag high at major events, on Sunday all five Swiss athletes at the start were at least among the extended group of favorites. Two promising athletes, Marco Kohler and Lars Rösti, were not even allowed to take part after fulfilling the World Championship limit but failing to qualify within the team.
A question of quality
In the World Cup, too, the riders are battling it out for the eight starting places. The density is so great that certain riders have to start in the European Cup, even though they have long been able to compete at the highest level. The best example is Arnaud Boisset. The 26-year-old from western Switzerland won the European Cup ranking in the Super-G two years ago and thus secured himself a fixed starting place for the following World Cup season. At the season finale in Saalbach last March, he finished a sensational third on the podium in the super-G. But even for him, there is unlikely to be a place in the World Cup squad next year - provided no athlete gets injured and Niels Hintermann returns from cancer.
Another example of how difficult it is to gain a foothold in the World Cup at the moment is Livio Hiltbrand. The 21-year-old from Simmental won the European Cup downhill ranking last winter and secured himself a fixed starting place for the World Cup. It was with a heavy heart, but of his own free will, that he decided not to take part in the Lauberhorn downhill - because he believes he has a better chance of securing a permanent starting place in the European Cup ranking than finding a place in the World Cup team.
"Success with so many young athletes also has its downsides," says Reusser. The most important thing is to be honest, as bitter as that is for the athletes concerned. "But they know: If they are among the top eight Swiss, they will get a chance."
What currently seems hopeless for some can change quickly. In the Sierra Nevada in 1996, less than ten years after the quadruple triumph in Crans-Montana, Xavier Gigandet was the best Swiss in tenth place at the World Championships.
