Austria's ski hero Vincent Kriechmayr. © APA / BARBARA GINDL

Kitzbühel sensation involving Vincent Kriechmayr

A week ago, the skiing nation of Austria was still worried about its figurehead Vincent Kriechmayr, who suffered a serious fall in Wengen. Now there is a shocking report from Kitzbühel.

23 January 2025

From: apa/det

Vincent Kriechmayr may make his comeback on Friday. The Upper Austrian, who suffered a strained medial ligament in his right knee in a fall in the Alpine Ski World Cup downhill in Wengen last Saturday, completed his first test on snow on Thursday and feels ready to at least take part in the warm-up for the Super-G in Kitzbühel. Whether he starts in the race will be decided afterwards.

"A completely surprising turn of events. Vinc Kriechmayr tried skiing today. He is confident that he will be able to try skiing on Friday. After that he will decide whether he feels fit enough," said ÖSV Alpine boss Herbert Mandl in the early evening in Kitzbühel. The possible comeback is coming "absolutely quicker than expected." It is positive that there was no major damage to the knee, and Kriechmayr has been diligently treating and training.

pressure point in the ski boot still needs to be fixed

At midday, Mandl reported in a media round that he had not found Kriechmayr when he arrived in Saalbach at nine o'clock. There had been talk of pain. "There was definitely still something that needed to be fixed, but it was in the ski boot. He had a pressure sore, probably caused by the detonation in the net somewhere. They tried to fix that, it looks pretty good," explained Mandl.

Kriechmayr after his fall in Wengen. © ANSA / PETER KLAUNZER

From a medical point of view, the green light is there. "He consulted yesterday and there was no objection to trying skiing. Kriechmayr is a responsible athlete and he works very hard. He knows exactly how to make tough decisions." He has to decide for himself whether it is one of those decisions. "Nobody can look into his body. Nobody can say whether he is fit enough and no longer feels pain."

Kriechmayr in the race for the Super-G globe

In the Super-G rankings, Kriechmayr is second behind the Swiss Marco Odermatt, so his chance of winning the globe is still intact. This may be one of the reasons why he wants to get back on the slopes so quickly. "You can speculate as much as you like. He's a racing driver, if he's fit enough, he doesn't miss anything. But that's definitely an ulterior motive, that's legitimate. For me, it's important that there are no long-term effects or that a start to the World Cup could be jeopardized somewhere."