Christof Innerhofer wasn't entirely satisfied with his drive. © APA / EXPA/ JOHANN GRODER

Innerhofer: "It wasn't just about being there for me."

Christof Innerhofer would have preferred a different Olympic farewell. At 41, these were his last Games. "I had hoped to ski stronger. I just couldn't find a decisive advantage in the race," he said after finishing eleventh in the Super-G.

February 11, 2026

From: ar

“It wasn’t just about participating,” Gaiser clarified immediately. “I really thought I could win a medal,” Innerhofer said. “Basically, my performance was similar to this year’s World Cup. I could have been five or six tenths of a second faster, then it would have been fifth or sixth place,” said the silver and bronze medalist from Sochi 2014.

“I know exactly how difficult it is to win an Olympic medal. How long did Domme have to wait? I consider myself very, very lucky that I managed to do it twelve years ago,” said Innerhofer. “It was a difficult Super-G for me. It was different here than in Kitzbühel or Val Gardena,” said Innerhofer, who had his best results there this winter. “Experience doesn’t help you much here. You have to ski well. Even if you’ve already skied these turns ten times – that doesn’t give you any particular advantage.”

The South Tyrolean finished in eleventh place. © ANSA / ANNA SZILAGYI

Innerhofer started the race with bib number four, right after the American Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who won the silver medal. "The slope definitely got worse later on," Innerhofer admitted. "Vincent Kriechmayr already had a really tough time with bib number 15," Innerhofer analyzed. "The conditions certainly weren't the same for everyone."

Not an ideal preparation

Innerhofer also spoke of a "less than ideal preparation" for this Super-G. "I've been here in Bormio for ten days now as a reserve racer for the downhill, completed the downhill training runs, but only trained Super-G once during that time," said the Gais native. "The last time I was able to train properly in Super-G was on January 6th, 7th, and 8th in Reinswald."



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