Abandoned by luck and by his mentor Georg Hackl, Felix Loch crouched in the ice gully of Innsbruck - it was a picture with great symbolic power at the World Cup opener in Austria.
The home game was the greatest possible triumph for the hosts, with all victories in the main competitions going to Hackl's new sporting home.
Germany, on the other hand, was beaten, most notably among the men: Loch fell heavily and ended up 15th.
Was all this the Hackl effect?
He himself did not want to overstate the result.
"It was just a home World Cup to start with, which went well and happily," Hackl said on ARD: Whether in men, women or in both doubles categories - victory always went to Austria.
It became particularly clear on Sunday.
Loch was already hopelessly behind after the first run in sixth place, in the end Nico Gleirscher won ahead of his compatriots Wolfgang Kindl, Jonas Müller and David Gleirscher.
Best German: World Cup debutant Timon Grancagnolo in seventh.
Loch looked bruised after his fall, but left the ice channel on his own.
"Of course you suffer," said Hackl, "Felix is a good friend."
Hackl was a mentor as a coach, especially for the former dominator, and last May he surprisingly changed sides.
Now he is supposed to help Austria to "pass the tobogganing superpower Germany and become number one", as Markus Prock, President of the Austrian association, puts it.