Even the grip on the rear right thigh did not signal anything good, the examination in the hospital in Brixen on Thursday evening brought certainty: A muscle injury is slowing down Thomas Dreßen's comeback after only four races.

"Break until January", the men's national coach Christian Schwaiger announced a few hours after the downhill in Val Gardena.

The 29-year-old Dreßen will not be doing any more alpine ski races this year - neither the rest on the Saslong in South Tyrol nor those in Bormio.

"The good thing is that knees and hips are intact," Mittenwalder said after the sad news for him, trying to get something positive out of the whole thing.

Because first a hip operation and then an operation on the right knee had forced Dreßen to take a two and a half year break from the World Cup.

He only returned to the series in Lake Louise, Canada, at the end of November, where he immediately broke the norm for the World Championships in France in early February as eighth downhill.

Dreßen: "Target is January"

Two more descents and a Super-G later, it's over for a few weeks.

Dreßen will at least miss the Super-G this Friday (11.45 a.m.) and the downhill on Saturday (11.45 a.m.) in Gröden and the World Cup in Bormio a good 100 kilometers further west on December 28th and 29th.

"Now I will recover from the injury in peace with the aim of being fit again at the start in January," announced the five-time World Cup winner.

According to national coach Schwaiger, that could be the case in Wengen, Switzerland (January 13-15).

Despite the recent injury, Dreßen wasn't really happy with his comeback.

Eighth place in Lake Louise "felt like coming home", followed by 24th place in the downhills in Beaver Creek (USA) and now 45th place in Val Gardena with a handicap.

“At the moment I don't feel quite at home with racing because it doesn't quite work as I would like it to.

I'm still making a little too many mistakes," he admitted.

This is not surprising for the national coach.

The sport has evolved during Dreßen's absence.

“In certain passages he is absolutely world class and a lot has happened in downhill sport in recent years on these technical sections.

He's just not ready for that," he said.

It is now important that Dreßen also drive difficult descents like in Beaver Creek again.

You can't simulate that in training.

"Reality will come at the weekend," said Schwaiger.

In terms of stress control, the national coach advocates that Dreßen devote himself entirely to downhill skiing and avoid super-G races.

"If we want to prolong his career as long as possible, we have to be very sensible with his burden," he said.

He should ride the Super-G if possible, but otherwise focus fully on the downhill.

“It gives him more recovery time.

I just hope that the whole system gradually gets used to the load again.

But now we simply have to act sensibly and smartly," emphasized Schwaiger.

Meanwhile, Josef Ferstl achieved his best result of the season in Val Gardena.

At the Downhill World Cup, the 33-year-old raced to sixth place and thus broke the World Cup norm.

He skied well and had fun, said Ferstl.

“Sixth place, great placement.

The World Cup qualification is over,” he said.

On the demanding Saslong with its dreaded bumps and jumps of up to 80 meters, the man from Traunstein was only 0.28 seconds behind the Austrian winner Vincent Kriechmayr on Thursday.

Second was the Swiss overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt ahead of Matthias Mayer from Austria.

Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who had won the first two shot drives of the season, had to settle for fifth.

Andreas Sander finished 14th in the catch-up race that was canceled on December 2nd in Beaver Creek (USA) as the second-best German. “That was a good race for me.

Otherwise I always criticize a lot when I ride, today there is nothing to criticize,” said the 33-year-old after his best downhill placing of the season.

"I notice that things are going uphill, that the speed is there and now it's time to keep at it," said Sander.

He had finished the two previous downhill races in Lake Louise (Canada) and Beaver Creek as 31st and 19th.

Luis Vogt (32nd), Romed Baumann (33rd) and Dominik Schwaiger, who fell early, went away empty-handed.