There have already been many serious falls in the World Cup this winter. A German ski idol has a clear opinion on this. He sees the blame on women.
Markus Wasmeier wrote German sports history in 1994 with his double victory at the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Since then, the former ski racer has been involved in a variety of areas, especially social engagements. For a long time he also worked as a ski expert for television, but ended this work in 2014.
Wasmeier now commented on the numerous falls that have already occurred in ski racing this winter. The 60-year-old was surprised by the criticism from some athletes about the routes of the FIS World Cup races. “That was standard in my time,” Wasmeier told “Sport1”. The ski idol didn’t want to blame those responsible for the FIS. Rather, he held the athletes responsible.
“When I look at the mistakes from Cortina, they were all extreme driving and line errors. That surprised me a bit.”
Wasmeier targets the ladies
Among others, ski superstar Mikaela Shiffrin and the Swiss Corinne Suter fell badly on the descent in Cortina d’Ampezzo. Canadian Valerie Griener also fell heavily in the Super-G at the same location. While the fall went relatively lightly for Shiffrin, Suter suffered a torn cruciate ligament and a damaged meniscus. The season was over for her as well as for Grenier, who injured her shoulder and had to undergo surgery.
Wasmeier particularly took aim at the performance of the female ski racers. “Perhaps the women were a bit overwhelmed on this route, because everything was actually perfect – the slope was great, the course too, the visibility was okay. These are mistakes that shouldn’t have happened to people like Mikaela Shiffrin.”
And the double Olympic champion continued: “Every athlete rides these routes voluntarily and can decide without pressure from the association whether they want to start or not. Everyone knows the risk, it was already like that in my time.” A harsh verdict that the athletes in ski racing in particular will not like.