Magoni as the biggest challenge of his career: “Everyday life is not easy”

Since the summer, Thomas Trinker has been leading the ÖSV women as the new racing director, and Georg Harzl, a new trainer for the technology department, has been installed. But the biggest headlines were made by Livio Magoni, who paved the way for Tina Maze and Petra Vlhova to win overall World Cup titles. Since then, the Italian has mainly looked after Liensberger with the primary goal of establishing the Vorarlberg woman among the world's best in giant slalom and consolidating this position in slalom.

But given the ranks 11, 8, 14 and a failure in the slalom, it quickly became clear that the intended tandem of success was not yet working. For the athlete, the new trainer meant “a change of almost all contacts regarding training and material, which still proves to be challenging for me,” explained Liensberger. “It takes time for the changes to work well and, especially during the racing season, it is important that everything runs well together and almost automatically.” Language as a barrier When Alpine boss Herbert Mandl presented the royal transfer in April, many observers asked themselves: Do the Italian's rough working style and Liensberger's sunny disposition fit together? There is no final answer yet, but Liensberger herself admits after six months of working together that she finds everyday training to be demanding. Magoni sets training runs individually tailored to her needs, which are then analyzed on the slope. What sounds like an increase in efficiency in theory is often thwarted in practice by a language barrier. “Our English is not perfect and that doesn’t make it easy to work together in everyday training,” says Liensberger. Magoni is now said to have started learning the German language. The Vorarlberg woman and the Italian: Liensberger and Magoni have been working together since the summer.

The fact that the ambitious project is still running is said to be primarily due to Liensberger's work ethic: she is considered extremely motivated, a student willing to learn, so to speak, who can definitely match Magoni's philosophy of large scale. In doing so, he made Vlhova a series winner and, after five years of collaboration, the overall World Cup winner. “Livio treated me like a machine. Not like a woman who also has feelings.” Petra Vlhova on Livio Magoni Ultimately, it also led to a major rift after Magoni joked in an interview that Vlhova moved as gracefully as an iron. The coach then denied it and emphasized that he had been misquoted by the journalist, but Vlhova's wish to separate remained. The Slovakian hired Mauro Pini, who had already caught up with Tina Maze after she almost paid for her overall victory with a burnout under Magoni's direction.

And Liensberger? She says before the three home races at Semmering next week: “I have learned that not only every athlete, but also every coach is very individual and that this creates different approaches to achieving goals.” It takes patience until something new has established itself . Likewise, until there are positive steps forward. “Same with me.”

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Magoni as the biggest challenge of his career: “Everyday life is not easy”

Katharina Liensberger imagined metamorphosis to be easier. The 2021 Slalom World Champion wants to perfect her system under iconic coach Livio Magoni. But completing the puzzle of success is proving to be the biggest challenge of the 25-year-old's career.

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