Ski racer Kira Weidle from SC Starnberg fell heavily while training in Zauchensee. At Blickpunkt Sport she describes how she processed the scenes – and questions the decisions of the FIS.
The Alpine ski fans have had a weekend that was hard to beat in terms of drama. Two top athletes, Alexis Pinturault and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, fell. Both had to be transported away by helicopter. The season is over for both of them. Other athletes drove down the Lauberhorn course with the handbrake on – three speed races in three days and on the longest route in the World Cup – that seemed to be too much of a good thing in the end.
What spectators and fans rarely see: the hours after the crash, away from the race track, away from the hustle and bustle of the race, when the racers are alone with the scenes in their heads. The currently fastest German speed driver, Kira Weidle, gave insights into exactly these moments on “Blickpunkt Sport” on BR television: “First of all, I went into a completely dark room. No TV, no light, no nothing – that was fine with me “Really not that good,” said the 27-year-old.
Helmet broken, skis broken, body whole
The Starnberger woman fell during downhill training in Zauchensee. At over 100 km/h it tilted, fell violently and landed in the net. It wasn’t until later in the evening that she watched the video of the trip herself.
“I really fell on my head, on the back of my head. It wasn’t entirely clear whether I could actually start the races,” explained Weidle. “The helmet is broken, the ski is broken, but luckily my body is still intact.” Day after day she had to decide with her supervisors whether it was possible to start.
Best performance of the season two days after a violent fall
There wasn’t much time to process the fall. The very next day, Weidle had to compete in the Super-G and had to conquer the route that she had dropped the day before. After takeoff, there was no way to train on the slopes again or to push away the thoughts of falling. There was only one inspection between the race that ended in the net for Weidle and the Super-G race.
Despite everything, Weidle put in a surprisingly good run. In the end, three tenths of a second were missing from a top ten result. On Saturday, during the descent, the 27-year-old went one better. With courage and consistency, she finished fifth – this time she was a tenth of a second shy of the podium. Best performance of the season.
In the video: Serious falls, crying drivers – criticism of the FIS calendar is growing
Discussion and criticism of FIS
Weidle speculated in the Blickpunkt sports studio that the fall from the training run might have even helped her achieve the two top results: “Maybe it helps that you are even more focused, even more concentrated, that you concentrate even more on skiing.” . The route also suited her. “Fortunately, Zauchensee is one of my favorite runs, so I can trust in myself and what I’ve done so far. I know how it goes down there.”
The risk that the ski racers take, the danger, has rarely been as present as it was last weekend. The serious falls of the world’s top athletes Kilde and Pinturault have once again sparked a discussion about the packed racing calendar in the Alpine Skiing World Cup.
Catch-up races claimed “victims”
The question arises as to whether it makes sense to reschedule the races that were canceled at the beginning of the season in January, which is already tightly scheduled. For the men, there were at least three speed races on three consecutive days in Wengen – on the longest and one of the most difficult routes in the World Cup calendar. Kira Weidle said: “It’s difficult to find the middle ground. (…) You really have to think about whether there aren’t any other places where you could fit it in.”
Conducting races at any price and somehow pushing them in requires sacrifice – “even very famous people who are known for being extremely well trained and fit, even for them it’s too much,” said Weidle. Especially “after all the injuries recently,” the FIS “should think about whether we should react differently in the future,” the Starnberg resident continued.
Criticism from successful athletes
Prominent drivers also criticized the weekend: “I hope that it’s a lesson never to drive three races here again,” said the superior winner Marco Odermatt at the finish. “No longer normal,” said Cyprien Sarrazin from France, who came second on Sunday, about the current workload.
The DSV athlete and speed specialist Thomas Dreßen also blamed the World Cup calendar for the many cancellations. “I think that in general you have to think about what is still useful when I think about how many races are planned.”
Race director Markus Waldner has already announced that he will forego XXL stations like those in Wengen in the future. “That was too much,” said Waldner. Waldner’s announcement has already had a first consequence: plans to reschedule the Super-G, which was canceled in Beaver Creek, in Kvitfjell in mid-February have apparently been scrapped again. In Norway – as in Wengen – there is already a downhill and a Super-G on the program.
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Source: Blickpunkt Sport January 14, 2024 – 9:15 p.m
