Surprise Winners and Recordholders
The Olympic games took center stage on the race calendar, but the Fischer Team was already celebrating their first successes before the new year. The brilliant win by American Bryce Bennett in the Downhill at Gröden, Italy came as quite a surprise, especially for Bennett himself. He let out a celebratory cheer that swept up the whole team and really set the mood.
A special highlight was the phenomenal victory of Great Britain’s Dave Ryding in the Slalom at Kitzbühel, Austria. The 35-year-old, earning his first “Gams” (chamois) trophy, became the oldest Slalom winner in World Cup history, as well as being the first Brit to ever win an alpine race. “These stats mean so much as I truly believe in persistence, hard work and dedication to achieve your goals and it paid off, not just for me, but everyone who made that possible!”, wrote Ryding recently on his Instagram profile regarding his résumé over the last few months. As the season went on, he confirmed his top form with two more podium spots.
A Host of Top 3 Places for the Men
Looking back to Kitzbühel is especially enjoyable for Fischer fans, because along with Ryding, Daniel Hemetsberger of Austria was also very impressive. With a spirited race as the first out of the gate, he secured second place and celebrated his first podium spot for a race on this famous course. The Fischer Slalom team celebrated a successful season with a total of eight podium spots by Kristoffer Jakobsen of Sweden, Giuliano Razzoli of Italy, Dave Ryding, und Daniel Yule of Switzerland. Stefan Brennsteiner of Austria showed his prowess in the Giant Slalom with three podium finishes, while his countryman Raphael Haaser earned himself a spot among the racers on the podium for the first time in the Super-G at Bormio, Italy.
Speed Queens Celebrate Top Three Finishes
On the women’s side, Austria’s Ramon Siebenhofer showed once again that she belongs to the best of the current Downhill racers. After two second places and a third in the Downhill World Cup- one of those being at her home course in Zauchensee, Austria- as well as numerous other top results, towards the end of the season she was right there in the mix for the Downhill crystal globe award. Ultimately, she missed out on a top spot by just a few points, ending up fourth.
Jasmine Flury of Switzerland returned to the podium for the first time since her 2017 Super-G victory in St. Moritz with a second place in the Downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Olympic Gold in the Mixed Team
Every racer on the entire team had feverishly prepared for the Beijing Olympic Games in China. Though there were numerous excellent results in the World Cup, individual medals were lacking. Either way, the Austrian team’s gold medal, featuring three Fischer athletes- Katharina Truppe, Stefan Brennsteiner, and Katharina Huber- definitely had a special shine to it.
Fischer Shows Strength in the European Cup
There is also promising news to report about the next generation of Fischer racers. Fischer has the second place finisher in the overall European Cup in Fadri Janutin of Switzerland. The 22-year-old finished on the European Cup podium three different times, ultimately taking the Parallel competition with the Swiss team in the World Cup season finale.
Fischer’s up-and-comers also showed their strength in the individual disciplines. Janutin’s consistency earned him second place in the Giant Slalom, with France’s Loevan Parand behind him in third. On the women’s side. Simone Wild of Switzerland triumphed in the Giant Slalom, and Nina Astner of Austria worked her way up to third after the final race. Elsa Fermbäck of Sweden took third place in the final tally of the Slalom. The results of these six athletes are enough to guarantee seven set starting places for next year’s World Cup.
On the whole, the 21|22 season was unquestionably a success. The Fischer Race Family will take these race results into the summer training season, with a special focus on next season’s Alpine Ski World Championships in Courchevel Méribel, France.
