The joy of skiing, risk and happiness – according to Marcel Hirscher, these are important ingredients for his 50th birthday. World Cup victory. For the time being, he is not able to estimate the number correctly:”It takes quite a long time to count it,”said the Salzburg resident. He described the situation as follows:”Schnickschnuck – and hopefully it’s going well”.
There is almost no place in the Ski World Cup where the Austrian has not yet left any traces. The Snow Queen Trophy in Croatia’s capital city has also left a lasting impression on him:”It’s a unique race, it’s so different from all the others. One looks into the city from above, sees the sea of lights that shines brightly on the mountain. This is something really special,”Hirscher judged about an hour and a half after his fourth triumph on the spot.
I was in the VIP tent, and Vedran Pavlek (Croatian alpine director/notice) gave my media advisor Stefan a violent pat to congratulate him, the crown was thrown out and broken into thousands of small pieces,”Hirscher said. “But I’m not sitting in my apartment with the crown on my head in front of the TV anyway.”
Hirscher spoke of a happy victory because he was only 0.05 seconds ahead of Tyrolean Michael Matt in the end:”You also saw that it wouldn’t be enough if Michi was not so nice and made a mistake,”he said. In addition, the goddess of fortune looked at him when he chose the setup for the second round.
“It was the first time this season that we rode on gatschnee or salt snow”, Hirscher explained,”This year we have never had such a warm weather before, and we haven’t really practiced. This is usually done in autumn, when you have a preparation, because it is so warm that the slope does not attract. I don’t have these experiences this year:” Both runs were therefore like a ride in the blue.
Hirscher emphasized once again that this season he was more happy to be there,”It’s nice that I can be there, because it wasn’t a matter of course two or three months ago,” he explained.”You’re getting a little more frugal and above all thankful for what you can do,” The forced break because of the ankle fracture in the summer, you’ve also had something good,”even though I was mentally in time.
Hirscher was the fourth man to reach the milestone of 50 victories in the Ski World Cup. At the time when Alberto Tomba was performing, I rather preferred the dear Sandman on television and I hadn’t seen that much of ski racing,”he said,” This is not my generation. It’s just a legend that has holy status. It’s hard to understand.”
He could do more with Hermann Maier, six years his junior. His Salzburger compatriot from Salzburg won 54 victories in his career, and Hirscher is most likely to have done so soon:”It would be more tangible, but now we are going to race and not talk about what may or may not happen.” The 86-win record of Ingemar Stenmark is not feasible.”Only if I’m driving for another 15 years, and I won’t do that”.
Hirscher is looking forward to the Olympic Games with anticipation as he enjoys his own activities. Probably combination, slalom and giant slalom and maybe the team event, but it can only be the technical competitions,”the 28-year-old explained.
The Super-G option also depends on how the weeks run until then. The plan to contest the World Cup Super-G in Kitzbühel has been shaken, however,”The tendency seems to be rather no. I’m not going to go to the mall. I haven’t driven a single turn on speed ski this year,”Hirscher also pointed out the risk involved,”Let’s have a look. Rather not,”was his final forecast.