Marcel Hirscher’s desire for self-optimization in skiing remains unbroken. This was made clear by the seven-time overall Alpine Ski World Cup winner at a sponsoring event on Wednesday evening. “I haven’t reached my best yet. I can’t go much over it anymore, but I can still feel a little bit of it,” said the 29-year-old from Salzburg.
In an unusual location – the old Halleiner Saline – the world’s best skier gave an insight into his winter preparation programme. The message: The basis for a successful ski season is being laid beyond mountains and snow-covered race tracks. During a one-hour show training session, organized by Hirscher sponsor and sporting goods manufacturer Under Armour, Hirscher presented himself as a parade athlete during some spectacular exercises.
The past winter was his best so far with 13 World Cup victories, two Olympic gold medals (combination and giant slalom), the big and two small crystal balls (for the slalom and giant slalom World Cup). “It was probably the best time to stop,” Hirscher explained. But the hunger for success and the joy of skiing is still big enough. “It’s getting faster, better, higher and it has to be fun. This is the engine. If I didn’t believe I could get better, I’d quit. If it’s no fun anymore, I’ll stop.”
Last year, Hirscher’s final preparation for the season was still clouded by an ankle injury. This year he has already had six “very good” days on the glacier before the World Cup opener in Sölden on 28 October. The fact that he needs ten good days of snow training “to get halfway up to the old level” could also be interpreted as an announcement to the competition. But it also has to be constantly improved. “The others always follow. It’s the art of adding another piece.”
For the perfectionist Hirscher it has long been a matter of working out the best coordination between the ski, the boot and the runner. “The potential in the materials sector is inexhaustible. If you had lost faith in Formula 1 in the 1980s that you could make cars even faster, then the cars in their current form would not exist. It’s the same with us. We on the team believe it can go even faster.”
The technology specialist is planning its next coups with flexible training and competition control. A “strict, military training plan” is “hell” for him. On nice days the fitness program will be moved outside. Hirscher is a training world champion, who also demands perfection from his environment. Even the weather has to play along. When it didn’t look good on Tuesday, he pulled the handbrake early, the glacier training was stopped. “I can only become better if I can make a charm. This is only possible under optimal conditions.”
Part of his recipe for success is quality before quantity – also in training. One thing he wants to have learned in eleven years of the World Cup: “Using the chairlift until you get dizzy is no good.” Skipping the North America race at Beaver-Creek is still an option. “It would have been impossible to even think about it a few years ago. But if I don’t feel like I’m ready, I’ll skip it.”
The now 29-year-old looks relaxed when he talks about motivation and goals for the coming season. “I don’t feel I have to do this anymore. I don’t have to prove to anyone that I can ski. And I’m over having to prove it to myself.”
After winning the seventh overall World Cup, his life had not changed. “I’m still the same Marcel. “It won’t change my career whether I win another bullet or not.” It’s just as well that the World Championships are due in February in Aare.