podcast
World Cup bronze after Olympic disappointment: For ski racer Lena Dürr, the year 2023 started almost perfectly. On the occasion of the DSV summer outfit, Dürr remembers her medal run in the winter sports podcast of the sports show and talks about her summer training, among other things. The 31-year-old is critical of the general development of the Ski World Cup.
sports show: Lena Dürr, looking back on your World Championship run to bronze: Is it still tingling?
Lena Durr: Yes, I’ve actually watched it a couple of times. The feelings come up again immediately, there was quite a bit of trembling at the end and I hoped that I would end up in the top three and that it wouldn’t end like it did at the Olympics last year. That’s how it looked at first. But so I was happy that I then managed to win third place by a very narrow margin.
sports show: After winning the bronze medal at the World Championships – what happened next for you?
skinny: On the day itself it is of course turbulent. The nice thing was that we then had the big award ceremony in the evening. That’s always something special, especially in a race like this, when you don’t “just” have this award ceremony right at the finish, but also get this big award again a few hours later in the evening. The whole team was there and we did too afterwards we celebrated and that just rounds off such a day.
sports show: At the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, you led after the first round and then missed a medal by a hair’s breadth. How did you deal with it and how did you manage to emerge even stronger from this difficult phase?
skinny: It was a process I had to go through. I think I had to go through all of that in order to start with the good feeling I have now. When the race results don’t add up, you just have to fight your way through it, always believing that there’s more. I knew I could make it to the front. And I think that’s the important thing: you have to know for yourself what drives you, then you can get through the difficult phases – and at some point you’ll be rewarded.
sports show: The winter athlete is made in the summer, you train hard. How are you approaching the new season? Everything back to zero?
skinny: To my mind, yes. It was like last year that I was concerned about getting things back together enough to get on the podium and win a World Cup. For me, skiing is like a jigsaw puzzle – lots of pieces have to fit together and you never know: ‘Can I get the jigsaw puzzle together again for next winter?’. We will try new things again, not think back and reconstruct: What did I do last summer? I believe that this does not lead to the goal. Rather find new challenges and new ways.
sports show: New challenges and new paths – how do you implement this in concrete terms, what does your summer training look like?
skinny: As a skier, you have to be relatively broad-based. My training plan is really very variable: I try to play a bit of tennis, of course the classic units, strength units, endurance units, trunk stability – everything that is important for a skier. But all around we try to try many different things. Downhill biking and, for example, gymnastics recently.
Sports show expert Felix Neureuther: Lena, as you probably know, I really enjoyed going to the weight room in the summer. How about you, are you still motivated to be in the weight room or could it be a little less for you now?
skinny: Dear Felix, I hear a slight irony in your voice (laughs). In fact, I still enjoy it because it’s very diverse. Of course there are units that hurt more than others. But you have this big goal in mind and you know what you are doing it for. There are seldom moments when I think to myself: ‘Now I have absolutely no desire to train’.
Sports show expert Felix Neureuther: What would you like to change about the Ski World Cup?
skinny: Sport used to be much more sport. That’s been lost a bit. But that is probably also the sign of the times that a lot is happening around it and that pure sport is not the top priority. I accepted that for myself because I know that in many areas it is not possible to express one’s wishes or opinions or to implement them. On the other hand, it would be nice if people listened to us more, because at the end of the day we’re the ones who start and go down the slope.
But: There are so many interests involved in the racing calendar that it is difficult as an athlete to see all sides – what is happening on the outside, how is the whole structure structured? You can’t get around a lot of things. But there are certainly a lot of little things where you have to say: ‘Okay, the sport is just still the sport’.