After a long period of suffering: Stephanie Brunner is making a new attempt

After a strong debut last season, failures and equipment problems put Austria's best giant slalom player ahead of Katharina Liensberger behind again. In March she even had to undergo another operation after a foot injury. Nevertheless, the 27-year-old is in good spirits before the start of the season.

Brunner is planning a full season including a return to slalom. She is now also a member of the ÖSV technology group, which also includes Liensberger, Katharina Rumpf and Co. “I want to attack slalom again,” explains Brunner, explaining her return to the discipline in which she was also doing well before her major series of injuries and had already achieved a top ten place in 2017 (8th in Levi 2017). “I have good slalom riders in this group to compare.” Brunner is aiming for a comeback start in Levi in November, probably through internal qualification. “I trained just as much in the slalom as I did in the giant.” “I didn’t really want to see the operating table anymore.” Stephanie Brunner Remarkable. But the apparently unshakable Tyrolean didn't let her recent injury discourage her after she tore the syndesmotic ligament in her right leg at the penultimate gate during slalom training in Aare in March. The operation in Graz resulted in six weeks of crutches. “It’s bitter when you’re lying on the operating table again. I didn’t really want to see him anymore.”

It was also bitter not being able to score points at the season finale, which is why Brunner was thrown out of the second GS starting group in 16th place. But the woman from Zillertal quickly regained her courage. “It was a comparatively minor injury and after just two months I was able to ski again at the end of May. So it happened relatively quickly anyway.”

She was then able to complete her normal program. “A lot has really progressed in training and I feel much better now than last year. I still made a lot of mistakes. Now I'm much more consistent.” The international comparison on the Sölden Glacier also encouraged her. And the best thing: “The knee, which has been injured so often, is working and has already survived a few falls. Everything holds up.”

Brunner is just one of the ÖSV women who have been injured – often again – within a year. You need a third hand to count. From Stephanie Resch (knee), who fell in Sölden preparation in 2020, to Nicole Schmidhofer (knee), Nina Ortlieb (knee), Bernadette Schild (knee), Ricarda Haaser (herniated disc), Katharina Troupe (torn muscle and tendon), Rosina Schneeberger (lower leg fracture), Julia Scheib (knee), Franziska Gritsch (broken arm), Lisa Grill (further surgery after lower leg fracture) and finally Lisa Hörhager (knee).

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After a long period of suffering: Stephanie Brunner is making a new attempt

After three cruciate ligament tears within 17 months, Stephanie Brunner returned to the ski racing slope in Sölden a year ago, but things didn't go as planned. Now the woman from Zillertal wants to know again.

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Football

Italy

International leagues

International

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Learn More

Motorsport

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After a long period of suffering: Stephanie Brunner is making a new attempt

After three cruciate ligament tears within 17 months, Stephanie Brunner returned to the ski racing slope in Sölden a year ago, but things didn't go as planned. Now the woman from Zillertal wants to know again.

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