After being kicked out: Swiss ski professional fights for career

Reto Schmidiger was once considered a great promise in skiing Switzerland. In 2010 and 2011, the 30-year-old from Nidwalden won a total of three gold medals at the Junior World Championships. However, he didn't want to make the jump to the absolute top, but he was regularly in the top 87 in his 20 World Cup races. However, the past season was to change a lot.

The slalom specialist – whose best individual result is an 8th place from 2011 – was plagued by injuries and only scored World Cup points twice. The consequence? After the end of the winter, he was terminated by Swiss-Ski and no longer received a place in the squad. “After the season I was out of steam, I had had enough of everything. With every conversation I had after that, I got the feeling that it was the situation in general that bothered me and not the skiing itself. The fire for it still burns,” says Schmidiger in an interview with View .

After this bitter setback, the good friend of overall World Cup winner Marco Odermatt pulled himself together and decided to continue his career. Thanks to the help of loyal sponsors, Schmidiger will make ends meet at his own expense. He has already hired a new coach for this, namely the former slalom specialist Matthias Brügger, who is a year younger than the 30-year-old and was once a teammate of the Swiss. Strolz as inspiration So Reto Schmidiger wants to know it again. His inspiration? The Austrian Johannes Strolz. He had also been sorted out by the ÖSV, but continued to fight on his own and last year, in addition to a World Cup victory, he also won Olympic gold in the combination and silver in the slalom. “The Strolz story inspired me a lot. “I also spoke to Johannes on the phone for a long time in the spring,” said Schmidiger View . Despite the difficult situation, the ski ace is bursting with enthusiasm.

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After being kicked out: Swiss ski professional fights for career

The ski circus doesn't just have its good sides. As in every other sport, some athletes experience hard times - like a ski ace from Switzerland.

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