Ex-skier in action for the first time as an expert: Feuz for SRF debut: “Wants to do it longer than Girardelli”

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The first training on the Matterhorn descent does not yet offer the great spectacle. On the one hand, this is due to the dull, very slow snow in the upper part of the route. On the other hand, logically none of the top cracks push themselves to the limit during the first test on the brand new slope.

That’s why it’s Beat Feuz (36), a former downhill king, who delivers the best punchline that day. When asked about his goal in his new job as an SRF expert, the Emmentaler resident answers with a mischievous grin: “I would like to do this job longer than Marc Girardelli.”

As a reminder, five-time World Cup winner Girardelli resigned from SRF after just under three months, succeeding Bernhard Russi in the winter of 2017/18. Marc Berthod took over the Vorarlberger’s workload.

“That would be too dangerous!”

In the future, Berthod and Feuz will take turns at the microphone for the broadcasts of the men’s speed races. In Leutschenbach, some decision makers would have liked to see the Olympic downhill champion and the two-time triumphant Adelboden do the tracking shot together in a particularly spectacular way at the World Cup premiere on the Matterhorn. But Feuz vetoed it.

On what grounds? «Since my last World Cup appearance in Kitzbühel, I have never strapped on the long downhill bars. Therefore, it would have been far too dangerous if ‘Bört’ and I had driven side by side or behind each other on this circuit at more than 100 km/h.”

The division of labor for next weekend is therefore clear: Feuz will comment on the two descents together with Stefan Hofmann, Berthod is responsible for the camera movements.

The first tests

But how will the three-time Lauberhorn winner and two-time Hahnenkamm champion prepare for his debut on the SRF microphone? “My preparation was the 16 years that I practiced this sport at a decent level,” says the 36-year-old with a wink. So Feuz does not have to spend hours in front of the laptop looking up information about athletes on the internet. “I know most of the drivers so well that I have the most important things in mind.”

Last summer, “Kugelblitz” completed a test with commentators Hofmann and Adrian Arnet. “In preparation we commented on the recording of the descents in Val Gardena, which worked quite well.”

Clear words

Feuz had already spoken clearly about the Matterhorn descent after the first presentation in the summer of 2021. “In my opinion, it will be very difficult to get a day with consistently good weather conditions at the planned start of the race in November at almost 4,000 meters above sea level. You just have to remember that at this altitude, even when the weather is very nice, the wind plays a role. And the race has to be a bit fair,” the 2017 world champion told Blick at the time.

Now the wind had no significant influence on the first training. But the Schangnauer has another problem. “There is a lot of dull, almost dead snow on the piste, which makes the entire descent quite slow.”

Still, Feuz is convinced that Switzerland will have reason to celebrate during this weekend’s races. «Niels Hintermann is extremely hot on this route. And Marco Odermatt will be able to improve enormously in the competition, as he usually does.”

Feuz-Tipp Hintermann only had to admit defeat to the Austrian Ottmar Striedinger and the Italian Benjamin Alliod in the first training. The reigning world champion Odermatt finished 16th in training and lost 1.61 seconds.

Source : Blick