The core idea of ​​alpine downhill skiing is very simple: From a defined starting point, you have to ski down a sloping slope to reach a finish line as quickly as possible. A few gates serve as orientation.

The exact way in between is up to the control art and the instinct of the skier.

Achim Dreis

sports editor.

  • Follow I follow

"When you start to think, it's already too late," is a basic attitude of Thomas Dreßen, who is considered a skier with feelings.

But that's exactly what he did wrong on Saturday on the Streif in Kitzbühel.

With poor visibility and snowstorms, the 2018 Kitzbühel winner tried to approach the finish on special paths and made mistakes after mistakes, as he recapitulated himself: in the "U-Hackerl", in the "Steilhang-Ausfahrt" and finally in in the "old swath" he stood either next to himself or next to the ski.

His last thought was to "ski a little more on the inside ski" in what was actually an unspectacular gliding passage.

Whereby every beginner knows: "The outside ski is the boss." Dreßen promptly slipped away, fell and was eliminated.

thing of physical impossibility

Not only finding the fastest line, but also being able to drive it sometimes seems like a physical impossibility, especially on the Streif with its maximum difficulties.

Unless your name is Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.

The start of the Hahnenkamm race is at 1665 meters, the finish at 805 meters, and the 860 meters of difference in altitude extend over 3312 meters of piste, along which distinctive passages such as Mausefalle and Hausberg Kante, Larch Shot and Zielsprung lurk.

The maximum gradient is 85 percent, the centrifugal forces in the carousel are briefly 3.1 G. Kilde completed the course on Saturday in a time of 1:56.90 minutes.

His average speed was 101.99 kilometers per hour.

At the top, the Norwegian was easily on the road at 140 km/h.

In the end, Kilde distanced second-placed Frenchman Johan Clarey by 18.87 meters – or, to use the more common measure: by 0.67 seconds.

Romed Baumann was the best German in eighth place (+1.52 seconds), Josef Ferstl was eleventh (+1.56).

The day before, Kilde seemed to be going even faster on the same route if he hadn't shot a little over the finish line at the end of the traverse - so that the tens of thousands in the finish area held their breath.

The fact that Kilde stayed on his feet during his dangerous approach to the safety fences was thanks to his gigantic stature and his muscular body, which withstood the centrifugal forces with all its might.

Kilde saved himself artistically and finished Friday's race, which was won by Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr, in 16th place.

Apparently completely unimpressed by this shocking experience, Kilde then started the race on Saturday and won.

"It was one of my greatest successes," he said afterwards, "if not the greatest." The fact that he also fractured a carpal bone during training on Thursday should not go unmentioned.

"Those were a few tough days," said the 30-year-old, but he chose a metaphor from another sport as the secret of his success: "I got back on the horse and delivered."

Of the eight downhill races this season, Kilde has won five and Kriechmayr three.

In addition, like the overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt (Switzerland), he won two Super-Gs.

"Kilde, Odermatt and Kriechmayr are in a league of their own," confessed German national coach Christian Schwaiger.

Technically high-quality and full of self-confidence, his drivers couldn't keep up at the moment.

"They drive lines that only they can drive," said Dreßen.

But even the best sometimes overexcite their driving skills, like Odermatt did on Friday.

His line that was too narrow on the steep slope didn't work out, and although he managed to get back into the race, he only finished 54th out of 58 riders and had to retire on Saturday due to knee problems.

One who has always had a slightly different approach to downhill skiing ended his glorious career at the weekend without having risked everything again.

The Swiss Beat Feuz, Olympic champion, world champion and three-time Kitzbühel winner, among other things, always chose the round lines.

"He always looked so unspectacular," said Dreßen in amazement - but it was still fast.

On Saturday, Feuz with start number 217 - according to the number of his World Cup races - safely crossed the finish line, finished 16th and confessed that it would have been stupid to injure himself again in the last race of all things: "I had a nice ride and am Healthy, that's the most important thing.” Dreßen, on the other hand, hasn't finished his journey.

He had been out for 33 months after undergoing hip, shoulder and knee surgery.

Now he is looking for the right track back into the world elite.

And while on Friday he was still enjoying the happiness of gliding and his personal freedom as a ski racer and finished 13th, on Saturday, contrary to his nature, he tried too many experiments, which promptly went wrong.

His anger at himself was so great that he threw his helmet to the ground as if to hammer a hole in the snow.

The only good news afterwards, when he was able to laugh about himself again: "The helmet is still intact."