PYEONGCHANG: Austrian Marcel Hirscher admitted Monday that his lack of downhill mastery meant he had no medal expectations for the combined event.
The slalom specialist, a six-time consecutive overall World Cup champion, is yet to win an individual Olympic title, his best showing a slalom silver in Sochi.
"After those downhill trainings, expectations are pretty low," the 28-year-old said of his podium chances in Tuesday's combined.
The combined comprises an opening downhill on the Jeongseon course, followed by a slalom.
The top 30 finishers in the downhill start in reverse order in the slalom, often making for a nail-biting climax as the technical skiers make up time on the out-and-out downhillers.
But Hirscher was despondent after his downhill training runs when he finished "so, so far away from the top 30".
"You have to be under 30 to have a good start number in the slalom to have any chance, otherwise you have no chance to get a medal. That's why I have no expectations for a medal," he said.
Hirscher added: "Downhill is a tough exercise for me because I don't have much experience. The last time was a year ago at the world championships" in St Moritz, when he won combined silver.
He also admitted to feeling under increased pressure from the Austrian media and fans.
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