A ski family as a bronze manufacturer

The story is about family happiness in sport, father Rene has a big hand in it as a serviceman and companion. “Skiing writes beautiful fairy tales, that’s one thing,” said ÖSV coach Marko Pfeifer. The Haasers were the first pair of siblings since Janica and Ivica Kostelic in St. Moritz in 2003 to win an individual medal at the same World Championships. “The story with my sister makes it even nicer,” emphasized Raphael, who is four years younger. “I was also very happy for her and tried to imitate the step.”

The success was not really announced. Ricarda had never been on the podium in the World Cup before, Raphael had achieved this once. Both surprised in the two-act event with their final slalom strength. In the case of Raphael, who has now converted to a speed pilot, the bronze coup was preceded by a week-long special project with slalom training at Pass Thurn and in St. Michael im Lungau.

Targeted slalom training with Raphael “We have prepared more intensively over the last two weeks. We skipped Kitzbühel and went to practice slalom and worked on the technique a bit,” said Haaser’s coach Martin Sprenger. “It paid off.” In the Kitz slalom, Haaser surprisingly “stood out” as a forerunner (Pfeifer); even before that, people had been sure that the 25-year-old would cut a good figure on the Ganslernhang. “We were already doing well with the specialists at Pass Thurn. Then we already knew, okay, this could be good,” said Sprenger.

Raphael Haaser surprised with a strong slalom. © APA / EXPA/JOHANN GRODER

Haaser later fleshed out what his trainer called intensive preparation with “three days” of tilt bar training. But the quick turn on short skis is anything but new territory for him. “I did slalom excessively in my school and youth years and it is something that I still really enjoy, even though I chose the other track,” said Haaser, who has his best World Cup results in the Super-G can.

Father invested everything Men's head coach Pfeifer had already secretly speculated about a surprise. “He rode with our slalom boys, he was good at that. I was really hoping he could show that and really speculated a bit. And thank God he did.”

The day before, Ricarda Haaser (2nd from right) won bronze. Father Rene (far right) is beaming with her. © APA / EXPA/JOHANN GRODER

The successful family combination was completed by dad Rene, who now mainly works as a service man for Ricarda. “He laid the foundation for all of this,” Coach Sprenger said of Mr. Papa. “Of course it’s sensational for us,” said Raphael Haaser. “I'm really happy for dad because he's been putting his whole heart and soul into it since we were children. He's very fanatical, which certainly suits us.” Mama Simone, who is also an alpine ski instructor, was forced to follow the races on the TV at home. She broke her femur three weeks ago.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Hockey

Tennis

Winter sports

Learn More

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

A ski family as a bronze manufacturer

Raphael has actually successfully emulated his big sister Ricarda. The quiet Haaser siblings from North Tyrol won the bronze medal in the Alpine Combined and thus wrote the sensational story of the first two days of the World Ski Championships in Méribel/Courchevel.

Comments (0)