The Innerhofer case is spreading

The “Innerhofer case” kept the ski world in suspense over the weekend. Especially among international ski journalists, his non-nomination for the World Cup downhill was incomprehensible and incomprehensible. The fact that someone who achieved the best time in training and the second fastest time was sent home before the race caused people to shake their heads. Not so the coaching team at the “Azzurri”. At most, there was a shake of the head about the media excitement surrounding Innerhofer.

A look back: Immediately before traveling to the World Cup, the “Azzurri” speed drivers completed a short training camp in La Thuile in Aosta. There the athletes were informed that Christof Innerhofer would do the Super-G and Matteo Marsaglia the downhill - so there would be no downhill qualifying. A decision that Innerhofer didn't like and which he also communicated to Speed head coach Lorenzo Galli - in office since last spring. However, this fell on deaf ears. The reason was that Marsaglia had better results than Innerhofer (11th Kitzbühel, 16th Lake Louise) with 17th (Wengen) and 18th (Beaver Creek). Admittedly, none of them are top spots. The fact that Innerhofer is ahead in the downhill rankings with 54:53 points was not an issue.

Innerhofer was lightning fast in training. © ANSA / Guillaume Horcajuelo

So Innerhofer couldn't do anything except give full throttle in training. He did. In the first training session, only Aleksander Aamodt Kilde was faster, in the second training session Gaiser was right at the front. Several top stars were missing, like Kilde, Odermatt and all 5 Austrians. But: The Swiss qualified and had to push themselves to the limit, the Canadians around Super-G world champion James Crawford can't help but always push hard. They were all slower than Innerhofer. In addition, Marsaglia was not fit recently and had to miss the second downhill run in Kitzbühel and also the first World Cup downhill training due to back problems.

After Innerhofer's best training time on Friday, there was a one-on-one conversation between Innerhofer, head coach Galli and men's racing director Massimo Carca, in which it was confirmed again that Marsaglia had his place fixed. Innerhofer then decided to skip the third training run on Saturday and go home instead. He spent the last evening of the World Cup with friends in Courchevel Le Praz.

Matteo Marsaglia was allowed to compete in the World Cup downhill. © ANSA / GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO

However, he hardly got to eat or drink because he was constantly receiving messages on his cell phone asking questions from disbelieving journalists, FIS people and coaches from other nations. The fact is: Matteo Marsaglia will end his career at the end of the season after around 210 World Cup races with one win and 18 top 10 placements. The 37-year-old has always competed at world championships since 2011 up to 2017, where he was never better than eleventh. Yesterday he received a kind of career farewell present.

It is an open secret that Marsaglia is friends with racing director Carca beyond the sporting aspect. It is also clear that Carca no longer supported Riccardo Tonetti's skiing career and that the end of the Bolzano's career is inevitable. And the question was more than justified in advance: Why was Gianni Borsotti nominated for the World Cup, but Simon Maurberger left out? Borsotti was 18th in Schladming, 23rd in Alta Badia, 24th in Val d'Isere (always giant slalom). Maurberger came 13th in the giant slalom in Val d'Isere and also finished 19th and 20th in the slalom.

Is it possible that the South Tyroleans - it's the same old complaint - are not treated equally? The South Tyrolean FISI top officials such as President Markus Ortler and the new national board member Christian Haas will undoubtedly ask this question when preparing for the season. If not, they are negligent and everything else – but not on the side of the South Tyrolean athletes.

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The Innerhofer case is spreading

The World Cup downhill took place on Sunday, with Christof Innerhofer having to watch. The decision to leave the South Tyrolean out is still a hot topic. A diary entry from Courchevel by Andreas Vieider.

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