Olympia 2018: Marcel Hirscher: My last three chances on Olympic gold

Marcel Hirscher knows that his expectations of him at the winter games in Pyeongchang are high:”At least I am expected to win a gold medal in my home country. It is not easy to deal with this pressure. I have three chances, and I think this is gonna be my last three chances. That means there will be no more Olympic Games for me”, the alpine ski superstar clarified.

Having this knowledge, having the last chance to achieve this great goal is not easy. But the six-time overall World Cup winner won’t change the way he approaches the other races in the World Cup:”I think I’m doing something different now than I normally would be exactly the wrong thing.”

In his first of three singles outreaches – the combination on Tuesday, followed by giant slalom and slalom – he goes on a medal as an underdog,”But I must have gone into a real relaxed race at the beginning of the season,”he said after starting into the winter because of an ankle fracture with a training gap.

The hope of a top debut in the form of a precious metal naturally lives:”A medal in the station wagon would of course be great. Then the first big push would be gone, what happens after that, is an encore or actually almost unimportant. In the meantime, unfortunately, we have got used to the fact that things always turn out very, very well. But for me personally, it would be (combined medal/notice) a great thing.”

He has noticed that there are athletes who wear gloves and face masks to avoid getting infected with diseases. Hirscher doesn’t go that far, but there is no need to shake hands:”I can only disinfect my hands all the time. But you don’t know if the cook or the waitress at the hotel is sick. So many people attack the same door handle. It’s not easy to stay healthy.”

When asked how important the fun at Olympia was to him, Hirscher said after a short pause for reflection:”Not really. I’m not here on vacation.”