The greatest of its time – or history? Marcel Hirscher has crowned himself the ski king of Pyeongchang in the giant slalom. But that was not his last word.
His second gold run of Pyeongchang was only 90 minutes behind, when ski king Marcel Hirscher was asked for the possible third. Can he, the greatest skier of his time, follow the legends Toni Sailer and Jean-Claude Killy?
Hirscher pulled the corners of his mouth downwards and lifted both hands a little bit up from the table, on his racing gloves the six large crystal balls with the respective year in which Hirscher won them.”I don’t know,”if this gesture should say, Hirscher himself was silent. He only ruled out a fourth gold medal run, he will not drive the team competition.
“No, I can’t,”Hirscher said,”although I’d like to. Hirscher, the driving force behind the cannibal of alpine skiing, was already thinking about the next World Cup races on the first weekend of March, about the next triumph in the overall World Cup, his seventh.
The Olympic slalom on Thursday, the top favourite of course still takes the Olympic slalom with him, although he admitted to being “a bit tired” after gold in combination with giant slalom.
The hunt for his first gold medals at the Olympics struck the 28-year-old as well as the conditions:”It’s always cold,”he said, and,”sorry, dear Asian friends, but I can’t see any more rice. Two and a half weeks of rice is too much for a guy from Europe.”
On Sunday, in the race, there was no sign of it. When the inimitable with the biggest lead in an Olympic giant slalom raced into the finish line for 40 years, the beaten competition was applaudingly trellising.
Hirscher whirled up a cloud of snow, which hit the runner-up Henrik Kristoffersen and Alexis Pinturault (bronze) in the middle of his face. It was a demonstration of power as Hirscher has long since made her a habit.
“Yiiihaaa”, shouted the often so controlled stag, and Kristoffersen shouted to him:”This is the world’s most deserved gold” Hirscher, the Norwegian added, was “unbeatable in the giant slalom at the moment, for us it’s only about the place behind it”. For the Germans not even about that: Linus Straßer and Fritz Dopfer finished 22nd and 26th, Alexander Schmid retired.
Hirscher sees the key to his dominance in the home world championship of Schladming 2013, where he was under inhumane pressure – and after his defeat in the giant slalom with gold in the slalom, the last world championship race, he won his first big individual victory.”In Schladming”, he said on Sunday,”was about to go”. That was brutal.”
The Olympic giant slalom against it – a breeze! At the start he briefly played through the worst-case scenario, which would have happened. Hirscher’s realization:”Nothing! Nothing would have happened,” he rushed to the next gold medal.
What about the slalom? Triple gold?”It’s a new race,”Hirscher said,”but people are expecting the same things again.” He’s ready.