Alex Hofer: The ticket solver

Especially since a few days earlier in the European Cup he had left runners like Atle Lie McGrath (Norway) and Aleksander Andrienko (Russia) behind him or was on a par with Semyel Bissig (Switzerland), who collected all the World Cup points in Santa Caterina. Not even Hofer's high number 61 was a disadvantage. In the first race, Adrian Pertl (number 63) and Andreas Zampa (66) qualified for the second run, and in the second race, teammate Stefano Baruffaldi made it into the 2-man final, 3 numbers ahead of Hofer. The fact that Alex Hofer took part in his World Cup races number 7 and 8 in Santa Caterina is a sensation. He no longer belongs to any group of the national team, but drives for the financial sports group. The former slalom winner from Kitzbühel, Cristian Deville, is his coach there. Thanks to strong performances at the FIS races in Sulden in mid-November, Hofer first got the ticket for the 2 European Cup giant slalom races in Hochgurgl, where he then secured the ticket for the 3 World Cup giant slalom races in Santa Caterina with places 5 and 2. The problem with the Covid test But: Alex Hofer suddenly had a problem: In order to get to Valtellina and thus to Lombardy, he needed a PCR test. It wasn't available in the farthest Ötztal, and only thanks to the connections of the European Cup organizers there did Hofer get a corona test. Until the result came in from Innsbruck, Hofer was not allowed to go to the “Azzurri” team hotel Nordik in Santa Caterina and thus into the so-called “bubble”. In order not to have to sleep in the car, the 26-year-old took the detour via his own bed in Castelrotto and only arrived on Friday - the day before the race. Ideal preparation is different. “Don’t let anyone get to my skis” What's more: Alex Hofer doesn't have his own service man, but prepares his Fischer racing skis himself. While his competitors were lying on the massage table or enjoying other forms of relaxation, he still had to go to the ski cellar. Hofer took 3 pairs with him to Santa Caterina: 1 pair of racing skis, one for breaking in and one as a reserve. Hofer: “I don’t have anything else at the moment. I hope that the good results in the European Cup will give me a few more pairs.” The scenario of transporting your skis in your own private car will be repeated in the near future. So now it's time for the European Cup in Zinal (Switzerland) again, before hopefully the concert of the big boys continues again in Alta Badia. Typical athlete's everyday life for a driver like Alex Hofer, who after many ups and at least as many downs, nothing upsets him anymore. Tragic death of the coach This includes 2 hip operations (2015 and 2017), but also a tragic event: During a hiking trip in August 2017 to the top of Torre di Pisa in the Latemar area with all athletes and trainers from the financial sports group, trainer Roberto Fontanive died of a heart attack. Something like that shapes you. Also someone who has often held the exit ticket from the ski scene in his hand, but always managed to buy the entry ticket to the big World Cup stage.

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Alex Hofer: The ticket solver

The naked result was sobering. The 48th place, 4,06 seconds behind in the first and 43rd place (+ 2,29) in the 2nd giant slalom in Santa Caterina was not what Alex Hofer had imagined in his World Cup races 7 and 8.

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