Two runners-up world champions, two very different moods: while Romed Baumann is good enough for the World Cup norm in the “cool” downhill run, his discipline colleague Kira Weidle is at odds with herself. But she wants to exploit this anger in the next race for complete success .
Kira Weidle fell short of her potential in the second World Cup downhill run of the ski winter in Lake Louise, Canada, and just missed out on the top ten. 24 hours after her seventh place in the opening race, the Vice World Champion from Starnberg came eleventh on the course, which was shortened due to the wind. Things went better for her colleague Romed Baumann, who ensured the next German top ten result in the World Cup on the second downhill of the season. The 36-year-old, World Cup runner-up in 2021 in Super-G, took sixth place in Beaver Creek/Colorado when Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde won again and, like Thomas Dreßen before him, fulfilled the World Cup norm.
It was “really cool”, said Baumann, “in terms of the conditions it was a difficult race. The podium would have been possible, but I’m still happy. I left a lot of good people behind me.” For the Super-G on Sunday (6:00 p.m. CET) at the same place, the motto is “attack, attack”.
Weidle, on the other hand, was mighty angry. “Why?” she called in the finish area, like the day before she had promised herself more. “Unfortunately I made two very, very big mistakes in the lower part. Up until then it was better than yesterday,” said the 26-year-old, but looked ahead. “The nice thing is: The season is still long, the form is actually right. If you omit such stupid mistakes, then it can be enough for the top again.”
As on Friday, Sofia Goggia won, the Italian celebrated her fifth triumph in a row in Lake Louise. Last year, the dominator won two downhill runs and a Super-G. The Austrian Nina Ortlieb was second (0.34 seconds), Corinne Suter (0.37) third. The downhill Olympic champion from Switzerland took second place on Friday.
Because of the wind, the women started from the men’s Super-G start. Weidle was 1.36 seconds behind Goggia at the finish, Emma Aicher was 21 and scored points. This Sunday in Lake Louise there will be a Super-G at the end. Weidle has big plans for him, she announced “full attack”. “With a bit of anger in your stomach, things might be a little better: all or nothing.”
In the men’s category, Dreßen had to settle for 24th place (1.99 seconds behind) after his strong comeback in Lake Louise/Canada. The five-time World Cup winner from Mittenwald finished eighth at the start after not having started in a World Cup since March 2020 due to hip and knee surgery.
Dominik Schwaiger was 13th in the Vail Valley on Saturday and thus fulfilled the second part of the World Championship norm. Josef Ferstl secured half the norm for the season highlight as 14th. Andreas Sander, recently fifth in the Super-G, came in 19th. Behind Kilde, Swiss Marco Odermatt had to admit defeat (0.06 seconds), third was James Crawford from Canada (0.79).