The end of his career was just averted

South Tyrol is currently not exactly blessed with speed talent among men's skiers. Then a serious injury ended Alexander Prast's career, and Florian Schieder also had to worry about his skiing future. But the Castelrotto native will be back at the home races in Val Gardena.

It was February 14, 2021. Florian Schieder fell during the World Cup downhill in Cortina d'Ampezzo and tore the cruciate ligament in his left knee. An almost normal fate for a ski racer. But unfortunately things didn't go back to normal for Schieder. When he wanted to train properly again in Saas Fee in October, he had to stop immediately. “I already knew in April that I also had cartilage damage that seemed to have been overlooked during the operation. At first we hoped that we could fix it with injections. But unfortunately that wasn’t the case,” says Schieder.

The moment of shock at the doctor He then went to Dr. Christian Fink to Innsbruck, and that didn't exactly encourage him. “He said he doubted I would be able to ski race again and he didn’t want to operate on me straight away. I'm already scared. He did it anyway, and immediately after the operation he was more confident. I was out there for a long time in rehab and it went really well. I then went to Chile for training and passed this test well.”

Although his knee is pain-free when skiing, he is still far from being able to do everything. He is not allowed to walk yet and he should almost only go on a mountain hike if there is a cable car downhill.

Florian Schieder had a serious fall at the 2021 World Cup in Cortina. © ANSA / ANDREA SOLERO

But despite all the difficulties, Schieder is back in the Ski World Cup and might have had a really good result if the weather had cooperated. “The training in Copper Mountain was good, I also did well in the FIS races there, but when you get to the World Cup it’s something different. In addition, the slope in Lake Louise was rough and visibility was poor. In Beaver Creek, however, I felt comfortable right from the start. Then I had bad luck with the weather. With a high starting number there was nothing left, otherwise I could have been further ahead. But from a skiing point of view, it's a good fit; even when training on the Saslong, I felt more comfortable than ever before on this slope. This time I came here under different conditions. This was my first time on the North American tour. Before that, Val Gardena was always the start of the World Cup for me.”

Schieder was not yet allowed to start in the North American races in the Super-G. “In Beaver Creek, after the downhill run, I would have expected that I would also be competing in the Super-G, but then they said that the same races were going as in Lake Louise,” says Schieder, who ended up with two 4th places secured the starting place for Val Gardena in the European Cup. “That will show whether my knee really holds up.” Florian Schieder with regard to the Bormio descent But first he is taking part in the sprint downhill today, from which he can certainly gain positive results. “It's not bad for me because I lose a second up on the flat. But it will be extremely tight,” says Schieder, who would have preferred another training run. “We actually don’t know why they canceled it. With further training the slopes would have improved.”

Florian Schieder turns 27 on St. Stephen's Day. This is the day on which the first downhill training is scheduled on the infamous Stelvio slope in Bormio. It will be a special World Cup for Schieder. “That will show whether my knee really holds up.”

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The end of his career was just averted

A short time ago the continuation of his skiing career was hanging by a thread, but now Florian Schieder is back in the World Cup. However, a crucial acid test is still pending.

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