It’s red door, blue door again for Marco Schwarz and Max Franz. Marlies and Benjamin Raich fuel the rumor and what do pencils and eggs have to do with skiing? We explain all that to you in this issue of Servus Österreich.
Good news: Marco Schwarz has resumed training between the gates and hopes to make his return to the White Circus before the end of the year. The versatile skier had until now insisted that he did not want to put pressure on himself and was instead aiming for a return to competition in the second half of the season. “It would of course be a big goal to return to the World Cup again this year,” admitted the champion, who sported a new look – thick mustache but no more beard – on the ServusTV set on Monday. But to temper: “It’s a wish, there is no guarantee. »
Injured in the knee in Bormio last December, the 29-year-old from Carinthian again had to be operated on for a herniated disc this summer and only put his shoes back on at the end of October in Sölden. More than 300 days after his injury, he was able to race through the gates again this weekend on the Reiteralm. We’ll see if he’ll be ready for Alta Badia in a month.
Another skier who crashed through the gates again is Max Franz. The speed specialist is still a long way from a return to competition after his horrific crash at Copper Mountain in November 2022, which resulted in two broken legs, a severed nerve, 19 screws in his feet and a long rehabilitation period. The 35-year-old skier admits he still has a little difficulty walking, especially over long distances. But having completed his first turns on snow in September, he was able to take the next step between the stakes this week in Sölden, albeit on still moderate slopes. A victory in itself for the bronze medalist from St. Moritz.
In bulk…
- Marlies and Benni. A video showing a champion between the stakes and an enigmatic sentence suggesting a new project: it doesn’t take much these days to fuel the rumor of a comeback. Or have a nice publicity stunt, taking advantage of the craze around Lindsey Vonn and Marcel Hirscher. Teasers published by Marlies (formerly Schild) and Benjamin Raich on their social networks this week have in any case attracted a lot of attention. The videos show them putting on their suits and dashing through doors. With the message: “We’re preparing something. We look forward to telling you more very soon”, accompanied by the hashtags “new chapter” and “back between the doors”. Marlie’s sign retired in 2014 and her husband a year later. But the Raich couple, who have three children, have never strayed far from the White Circus, with both champions working as pundits on Austrian television ORF. Revelations about their new project are expected Friday morning.
- Eggs and pencils. German is full of funny expressions and in Levi, we heard some nice ones from the Austrians, although not always translated correctly. Catherine Troupefrustrated, blurted out after a failed 2nd round: “I went down like a pencil”. The ladies coach Roland Assingercomparing the performance of his skiers to the unbeatable Mikaela Shiffrin, resigned himself: “currently, we are just hanging on to our skirts”. And to add that since their arrival in Levi, his athletes “had a worm” (imagine a worm in an apple, in short it doesn’t work). Marcel Hirscher finally described his weekend as “not quite the yellow of the egg”. An expression not at all correct in English but which comes straight from German: “es war nicht das Gelbe vom Ei”, that is to say that it was not great. A nod perhaps to former German footballer Lothar Matthäus, who is said to have used the expression in English during an interview. The phrase has since been adopted into German as a joke.
- A crazy statistic. After two races, the Austrian technicians already have two podiums this winter, the same results as throughout last season. With 3rd place in Julia Scheib in Sölden and 2nd place in Katharina Liensberger in Levi, they even did better than the two 3rd places from the previous year. A sign that better times are coming?
- Too many champions. While we have been wondering for several seasons where the next generation of Alpine skiers are among the Austrians, the coaches of the ski jumping team have the opposite problem: “We have too many good jumpers,” noted Andreas Widhölzl in this interview. start of the season. Stefan Kraft won his 3rd big Globe last winter with 13 victories and a huge margin. Jan Hörl et Daniel Huber each signed two victories, and Daniel Tschofenig et Michael Hayböck both reached the podium. With Manuel Fettnersix Austrians finished in the top 15 of the general classification while the young hopeful Stephan Embacher also showed some nice things. “We can leave with good feelings,” rejoiced Andreas Widhölzl. The first test will be in Lillehammer this weekend.
Sim Sim Wissgott, Vienna
Swiss
