The returns of great champions in need of thrills are a bit like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates: you never really know what you're going to get. The range is wide, from the pieces of history offered by Mohamed Ali in Kinshasa or Tiger Woods in Augusta, to the very painful memories of Michael Jordan with the Wizards or Michael Schumacher at Mercedes. Where will Marcel Hirscher and Lindsey Vonn fit into this Spanish sports hostel? To be honest, we're not sure we really want to know.
“Not sure it’s a good thing”
The two legends of alpine skiing are in any case the great attractions of this start of the season. The double Austrian Olympic champion, who now competes under the Dutch colors, officially resumed the thread of his career at the end of October in Sölden, where he took 23rd place in the giant, five years after his last race. For the American, the shocking announcement is much more recent, barely two weeks old, and the circuit is only just recovering from the shock wave.
The queen of speed, an Olympic title, 82 World Cup victories and four big crystal globes to her name, will not be in Killington this weekend. Her plan is to be an opener at Beaver Creek on December 14 and 15, before starting the two super-Gs in St. Moritz the following weekend. At 40 years old and with a body “broken beyond reason”, as she described it when justifying her retirement in 2019, this is a challenge that arouses curiosity.
In the small Alpine environment, we remain quite doubtful for the moment. If everyone recalls the respect due to these two immense champions, the interest, relevance and privileges granted raise questions. In Sölden, during the press conference their common equipment supplier, Head, the Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami expressed her distrust. “I don’t want to be controversial, but I’m not sure it’s a good thing,” she commented. A legendary figure in Swiss skiing, coach Hugues Ansermoz, who has seen Vonn grow since he was 15, also said he was “quite skeptical” in the columns of Matinwithout obviously obscuring the “big publicity stunt for skiing”.
This is precisely what bothers the director of the French alpine, David Chastan, a little. Not the light shed on discipline, but everything that lies behind it. “It goes beyond sports, in my opinion. We are talking about business, the announcement effect, believes the former boss of the French men's team. I prefer people to talk about my sport in terms of performances, rather than in terms of feedback. These are athletes who have marked the history of skiing, but who are today, I hope, outdated. »
Chastan doesn't say that unkindly. Simply, clinging to old glories has never moved a discipline forward. Seeing Hirscher fall by the wayside in the first run during the Levi and Gurgl slaloms in the last two weeks is rather reassuring according to him. “It shows that it’s not that easy to come back, and that’s good,” he said. Skiing involves a lot of sacrifices, training, concessions, to reach a very high level. And there we measure the difficulty, despite having been great champions. It is also important not to devalue the performances of young skiers. »
A new tailor-made regulation
Let us be clear, these comebacks are entirely respectable and have their deep roots in the passion of these two athletes for their sport. It's obvious, otherwise why want to put on skis again in competition after eight serious injuries and a knee operation last April, as is the case for the American? But there is perhaps a little more than that, like the development of the ski brand (Van Deer) that he launched three years ago for Hirscher, for example.
A slight unease is also felt because of a new regulation point added by the International Ski Federation (Fis), which seems to have been tailor-made for the Austro-Dutch – even if it has come into force last season. In summary, Article 3.2.1 provides for the possibility of requesting a wild-card for athletes who have stopped for at least two years and won the World Cup overall, a small globe, an Olympic gold medal or a world title. This invitation allows you to start a race just after the top 30, and not with a very high bib, synonymous with a degraded track, therefore limited performance and making a return to the very high level impossible.
The steps towards the top world level are therefore a little clearer for Vonn and Hirscher. An advantage that is “legitimate compared to what they have done in their sport”, believes David Chastan, but also “questionable”. Because during this time, those who are unfortunate enough to get injured, which is not uncommon in skiing, struggle to get back in correct bibs. “It bothers me a little that we favor a return from a 5-year career break more than that of a skier who is in the game and who gets injured,” continues the French boss. An injured person must face a much greater challenge, with all that this may entail in terms of apprehension and physical concerns. »
Chastan takes as an example the case of Victor Muffat-Jeandet, Olympic medalist in 2018, in the world top 10 in combined for years and who has just returned to the top 50 after more than two years of struggle, following his fracture of the right ankle in 2022 then his operation on the left knee in 2023. “The regulations are very harsh with these athletes who are between 20th and 30th place in the world and who lose that rank. That there is a special status for people like Hirscher or Vonn, I am willing to admit it and hear it, but there needs to be a global reflection on these subjects. »
OUR FILE ON ALPINE SKIING
Primarily concerned, Alexis Pinturault also believes that “the injury should be much more permissive than the wild-card », as he said on Eurosport last month. Having just returned after crushing his left knee last January, the winner of the big 2021 globe is obliged to achieve good results very quickly if he does not want to compromise his new project focused on speed. He will only be entitled to three downhill starts to find his place in the 30 best in the specialty. Otherwise, he will have to pull out the oars.
