The Swiss men have the chance of the third title in the third race at the Alpine Ski World Cup in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. From a German perspective, the medals in the new team combination on Wednesday (12.02.2025) are negligible.
After the first of two sub-disciplines, two teams from Switzerland and one from Italy have the best chances of the gold medal at the World Cup premiere of the team combination. For the only German team, Simon Jocher only managed the 18th best departure time. His team -mate Linus Straßer would have to catch up for 1.61 seconds in slalom to get the first German medal at this World Cup.
The downhill route on the Zwölferkogel presented itself soft and therefore a little slower compared to the special descent. There was also no sun this time and there were always a few fog swaths in the upper part. This also led to two longer interruptions during the race.
Swiss best get along
However, most top athletes did not matter. The same names could be found in the front places as on Sunday. World champion Franjo von Allmen led his team to second place and only 0.02 seconds behind his Swiss compatriot Alexis Money, who won bronze. Von Allmen has the better slalom driver in his team with Loic Meillard, so the two are the clear favorites. Dominik Paris from Italy, who had just missed the medals on Sunday, drove the third fastest time. He sends his team -mate Alex Vinatzer to the Stangenwald with 0.46 seconds behind.
The hosts, on the other hand, had to take a small damper. After the departure of Vincent Kriechmayr, who was able to win silver in the special descent, her top team has already been back 1.31 seconds. This will also be too big backpack for a Manuel Feller. After all, thanks to Daniel Hemetsberger, there is another Austrian team in fourth place. His team -mate Fabio Grein has to catch up for half a second for a medal.
Jocher with a few problems
Romed Baumann was actually planned as a driver in the only German team, but he had to fit. But Jocher is also on the road with a bruise and problems after a herniated disc and could not go with the top times. He kept up well in the upper section, but a mistake ultimately cost him a lot of speed and thus also a better time.
“For me it was a step forward. The mistake was extremely annoying. And it is a team event today, so I’m extremely sorry for the Linus. I could have given him a better starting position”said Jocher afterwards on ZDF. For him it could have been the last race of the season, possibly he will undergo an operation after the title fights.