Ski Dominator Marcel Hirscher is generally regarded as virtually flawless. The man from Salzburg himself doesn’t see it that way and still has some air up his body.
“Everyone has deficits, and so do I,” says Hirscher in a broadcast from Technogym, for whom he acts as a brand ambassador. “In skiing you have a one-sided load, the legs are heavily stressed. Back and upper body are often neglected, but are very important for the overall condition of the body. I could certainly do even better,” said the 29-year-old.
However, Hirscher knows that changes in the material also change the stresses on the body: “We are already trying to adapt to the conditions. You don’t want to be hurt yourself and feel where it can get dangerous. With the new giant slalom ski it’s the knees again, in the years before it was the back. If you move at the limit, as we professional athletes do, sooner or later there will be points where the load on the body becomes high. That’s hard to avoid.”
Hirscher has once again made a brilliant start to the new season, also because he is not only constantly tinkering with skis, boots and the like, but also during daily training in the strength chamber.
“New stimuli are needed to keep up with the competition – because they work hard to beat me. Everybody tries everything to get better as soon as possible. The challenge is to find new charms. Every day Kaiserschmarr’n is also bland,” says Hirscher about his daily bread and reveals that he actually prefers to train what he is good at. “Where you have deficits, you don’t like to train because it’s harder for you. But that’s exactly what makes you stronger,” Hirscher knows why he torments himself.
There was one victory and one second place for the ÖSV flagship at the start of the season, which once again raised public expectations. It undoubtedly started well, says Hirscher, who, however, cannot be lulled to safety. “In Levi it was very tight and I was at the limit. The competition hasn’t slept over the summer, you can tell. Henrik Kristoffersen or Stefan Luitz drive fast swings, in slalom you shouldn’t forget my team mates like Michael Matt, Manuel Feller or Marco Schwarz either”.
What impressions did he get from the first two races for the season? “It would be too early to draw great conclusions,” Hirscher makes clear. “It was important for me to know that I was in it. I knew that in Levi after the first run. Whether I win or finish second doesn’t really matter. The certainty ‘Hey, I can still ride there’ is simply good – because it was a season preparation under special circumstances,” said the neo-family father.