The three champions of today’s Downhill (Walchhofer, Miller and Osborne-Paradis) gathered for the press conference and underlined, once again, the selectiveness of the Saslong. They also agreed on Ciaslat being the key section.
“I let the skis run and the only regret I have is that I didn’t do better on Ciaslat. I felt great from the start and it helped knowing that everybody focused on Guay” these are the first comments by Canadian Manual Osborne-Paradis, who also added: “we are a very young team where everybody has a right to speak their mind. We trained well in Norway along with Svindal and only now get a sense of our potential.” Also Bode Miller is pleased with his run and once again proved to be a Champion with a capital “C” here in Gardena-Gröden: “I took the risks where I could knowing full well that the only way to win on the Saslong is to let your ski run and to do so aggressively. Walchhofer? He knows how to glide better than anyone and in order to win I had to make my move in the more technical sections. Maybe I could have skied better in the second part of Ciaslat.” The happiest of them all certainly was Michael Walchhofer: “I pretty much skied perfectly and am pleased with my performance. Downhill remains the queen of the Ski Circuit and my victory is a prestigious moment for all of Austria. Our team is focused on the future. Who will be my successor? It’s hard to tell, but Klaus Kröll certainly has the abilities for a break-through.”