Riesch back on snow

On a day when it was hot enough to melt chocolate, veteran World Cup journalist Patrick Lang interviewed German super star racer Maria Riesch who was attending the Milka Chocolate Festival in Bludenz, Austria. Riesch, who leads the German alpine squad, was attending the festival with ski jumper Martin Schmitt, a multiple gold medalist and double World Cup champion, and Michaela Kirchgasser, a talented young Austrian skier. Milka, which is a division of Kraft Foods, has been a major sponsor of FIS events in all disciplines. The company also sponsors numerous ski sport athletes. It was 95 degrees F when the festival commenced.

“It’s difficult to imagine now by 35 degrees C (95 f) that the season has basically started for me – in fact I already attended a snow training camp at Zermatt, in Switzerland, last week,” Riesch told the press during that hot afternoon. “I hope it will not be so warm tomorrow at home when I will be playing tennis for my club.”

“We skied for six days there and it was really good,” the double Olympic Champion added. “It was fun to be back on snow and get some cool air. The conditions were fine. People have a hard time to imagine that we have to intensively train six months prior the start of the next season. I was also pleased to see that the new organization with our new head coach is working smoothly. The communication between us works really well.”

“People may believe we are relaxing at the beach now. I did it last spring when I went for a nice twelve-day break at the Mauritius Island, but for several weeks now I’ve worked out hard to prepare the coming winter,” said Riesch. “In a few weeks the team is moving down under to New Zealand, and then to South America for more speed camps. I definitely need more super-G and downhill training to find back my best rhythm in those specialties.”

Last season, Riesch achieved another highlight in her career as she managed to podium in all disciplines including the giant slalom, which used to be  her worst event. It helped her to reach, for the third consecutive time, the podium in the Overall World Cup standings – not so far from her great friend American Lindsey Vonn. She was also 3rd in 2004, her first great season marked by her first three wins in downhill, super-G and slalom.

A winner in fourteen World Cup events in four disciplines so far, Maria Riesch knows what is important to keep on fighting for the Overall victory in future seasons. “The key is to be very consistent throughout the winter and score as often as possible ‘big points’ in all disciplines,” she explained at the end of last season. “You can’t do much more than trying as hard in each race to win it.”

The talented and very determined skier from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a four-time Junior World Champion in the early racing seasons, proved her toughness in numerous occasions – including during the recent ‘home’ Finals in March 2010 when she won the downhill, finished two other races on the podium and captured another slalom Crystal Globe after a fierce battle against Austria’s Kathrin Zettel.

Her recent, very positive experiences at the 2009 FIS Worlds at Val d’Isère, the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver and her past World Cup titles in super-G, slalom and super-combined should inspire her as much as her difficult years in 2005 and 2006 when she suffered two serious knee injuries within a few months at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, and Aspen, Colo. She then fought hard to find her former momentum.

Another reason to expect so much from Maria Riesch in the coming years is the fact that she got engaged to her manager, Marcus Höfl, who is also working with other major German sport stars like soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer, tennis idol Boris Becker and ex-swimmer Franziska van Almsick.

“It’s a nice feeling, I’m really happy and I’m definitely looking forward for some great moments now,” Riesch also said at Bludenz.

Her fans are now expecting a lot from the 25-year-old Bavarian who has the potential to become the third German Overall World Cup champion after ‘Gold’ Rosi Mittermaier in 1976 and Katja Seizinger in 1996 and 1998. -Patrick Lang

Image by Gepa