Saalbach-Hinterglemm-Alpine Ski World Cup could become disappointment for Austria

After the Hinterglemm town sign, it quickly goes into a short tunnel. The bypass of the small center was built in the course of the first world ski championships in the Glemmtal 34 years ago. If you get out of the dark after a few hundred meters, the first look at a huge stand. It stands in the target stadium at the foot of the Zwölferkogel, on the one hand. On the other hand, it is also in the middle of Hinterglemm and dominates the image of the smaller district of the municipality of Saalbach-Hinterglemm these days.

Oversized

It is not the only oversized building that was specially built for the alpine title fights. Most of them are quickly dismantled like the grandstand-like the big stage on the Medal Plaza, the VIP tent behind it or the “Home of Snow”. The traditional Austrian party center at Alpine World Ski Championships must not be called “Tirolberg” this time, because the World Cup does not take place in the state of Tyrol, but in the Salzburg region.

The impairments that the World Cup brings with it accepts the Skiaffine population as well as the costs that such an event causes. Seefeld took over in 2019 with the execution of the Nordic title fights, after Schladming in 2013 the Court of Auditors came to the scene because the Alpine World Cup was subsidized with too much public money. When it comes to skiing, the Austrians think great. You want to do with the World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm Set a new benchmark, said the managing director of the Austrian Ski Association ÖSV, Christian Scherer.

Coping with frustration

The organizers managed to organize a World Cup of very short distances. The organizers, the sponsors and the ÖSV have imagined this so beautifully: the red-white-red ski heroes come on foot in two or three minutes from the award ceremony to the “Home of Snow” to be celebrated with their medals. The only problem is that the Austrians fear that their athletes could stop by to cope with the frustration. Up to the World Cup there were only two season wins, the Cornelia Hütter won. The men in the World Cup have just brought it to eight podium places. ÖSV President Roswitha Stadlober had described the hosts as “dangerous outsiders” at the weekend-and there was more hope as a conviction.

After the missed medal at the start of the team event on Tuesday, conviction and hope have not grown. The “Salzburger Nachrichten” described the end of the later bronze medalist Sweden as the “maximum penalty”. This competition had always been laughed at in the country of the mountains, but this time he should have been a “mood maker”, as Alpin boss Herbert Mandl said.

A disgrace

The 1991 spirit had already been conjured up for days. It was too good at the World Cup back then. In the first competition there was silver for Austria-the beginning of a red-white-red triumphal train with five gold medals and a total of eleven times precious metal. Petra Kronberger and Stephan Eberharter were interviewed up and down. Again and again the ORF showed the pictures of the title fights that have been entered into the Alpine history because of the continued beautiful weather.

And then that: Austria’s mixed team even landed in sixth place in the final bill, which had failed in the round of the last eight just on the later vice world champion Switzerland. What a disgrace! The “Kronenzeitung”, as a media partner closely linked to the ÖSV and therefore traditionally a little gentle in criticism, wrote: “False start”.

The ORF had analyzed hours in the evening – and in the end the viewers gave the feeling that this World Cup could hardly be saved for Austria. In the middle of it, alpine boss Mandl had bravely tried to counter black painting: »The potential is still there. We have to put it away now. “Then he spoke of a” successful start to the World Cup “and, of course, meant the” great mood “, for which the approximately 15,000 spectators had also taken care of that from his own ski heroes. In addition, the concept convinced to integrate the team event into the opening ceremony, to use the racing breaks for show acts.

It is part of the nature of the Austrians that, especially when it comes to skiing, they tend to exaggerate, both in one and in the other – and feel emaciated if failed. When Miriam Puchner dominated the second departure training, the ORF took an 180-degree turn. The 32-year-old from the Pongau was laid in the favorite role for the departure on Saturday. In the end, the truth will be somewhere between the almost historically successful title fights from 1991 and the excessive pessimism of this World Cup.