The Swiss speed skiers seamlessly built on their Olympic successes in Garmisch and celebrated an impressive triple victory. Olympic champion von Allmen, however, misses out on the podium after making a mistake - and blames the spring-like temperatures.
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- The Swiss downhill racers celebrate a triple victory in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with Marco Odermatt ahead of Alexis Monney and Stefan Rogentin, having already won eight medals at the Olympics.
- Triple Olympic champion Franjo von Allmen misses out on the podium in sixth place after a mistake in the final section and criticizes his run self-deprecatingly.
- Von Allmen cites the unseasonably warm temperatures and lack of racing excitement after the Olympics as reasons for his difficulties, while Odermatt is positive about the more relaxed atmosphere in spring.
The Swiss ski festival continues in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. After the Swiss-Ski men's team took eight medals at the Olympics, the first race after the Winter Games produced the next sensation: a triple victory in the downhill by Marco Odermatt, Alexis Monney and Stefan Rogentin.
While Odermatt celebrates his 54th World Cup victory and has virtually secured the small crystal globe in the downhill, for Alexis Monney and Stefan Rogentin it is the first podium finish of the winter and therefore a liberation.
But one prominent Swiss name is missing from the podium: That of triple Olympic champion Franjo von Allmen. He was also on course for the podium in Garmisch, but lost over a second in the lowest part of the course after making a mistake and had to settle for 6th place. In the SRF interview after the race, he said sarcastically: "I only messed up these three turns a 'little'."
In training, he had actually managed the passages quite well, but in the race he didn't get over the ski cleanly: "I sat in the back, as I had done a bit the whole time. In these choppy conditions, it's brutally tough. In the end, I didn't have the energy to make a clean turn. Too bad, because the rest would have been okay."
No excitement due to high temperatures
When asked whether it was difficult to build up excitement again after such a successful Olympic Games, von Allmen says that it would have been relatively easy in principle, but it was simply "huere Früehlig". And so the 24-year-old explains: "It's far too warm to ski and brutally difficult to build up race tension again. From my point of view, I'll be happy when the season is over if the temperatures stay like this for much longer."
Winner Marco Odermatt has also noticed the lack of excitement: "I know what Franjo means, you definitely don't get the same excitement as you might in Wengen or Kitzbühel." But the now 54-time World Cup winner states: "I actually still like it, the atmosphere is mega cool and there is no longer the same tension. It's a bit more relaxed and spring fever."
