What Maurberger and Hirscher have in common

For the first time in 12 years, the 29-year-old from St. Peter im Ahrntal is no longer a member of the national team. Which was no surprise given the disappointing results of the last 2 years. Maubi still doesn't think about giving up. On the contrary: He has a clear plan as to how he wants to get back to his old level of performance.

Flashback: Simon Maurberger has competed in 105 World Cup races so far, the first in October 2014 in Sölden. His career has always been on a steep upward trajectory, with team bronze at the 2019 World Ski Championships and 5th place at the night slalom in Schladming in January 2020 as highlights. There was also 9th place in the Kitzbühel Slalom 2022 and two 10th places in Zagreb (2020) and in Madonna di Campiglio (2021). It also worked in the giant slalom: 13th in Val d'Isere 2022 and 15th in Garmisch-Partenkirchen 2020 were his personal exclamation marks.

Cruciate ligament tear as a turning point Maurberger had a special experience in Chamonix in 2020: There he ran the race of his life in the parallel giant slalom, fell in the quarter-finals and tore the cruciate ligament in his right knee. He was ranked eighth, but after a long rehab break, the playful ease that had characterized him until then was lost.

Simon Maurberger was seriously injured in Chamonix in 2020. © APA/afp / JEFF PACHOUD

The performance and, above all, the results spiral continued downwards, and even a brand change in 2023 (from Atomic to Fischer) had no effect. The result: Maurberger didn't score any points in any World Cup races last season. The slalom in Kitzbühel was typical of his epidemic year: With number 52, he qualified for the second round in 28th place, but then dropped out.

With another change of material at the end of February (from Fischer to Blizzard) he pulled the ripcord. Nevertheless, the fall in the FIS rankings was brutal: in the slalom he is ranked 143rd in the latest ranking, and in the giant slalom he is 252nd.

Maurberger's new start The 29-year-old is currently only of casual interest in these numbers. His focus is different: he's attacking from scratch again, with the help of the Global Racing Team. The American Paul Epstein is in charge there as coach, and this international private team has been causing a sensation for years. The most prominent Global Racing athletes are currently the Belgian Sam Maes and Stefan Luitz from Germany. Christian Borgnaes (he starts for Denmark, but comes from Austria) and Andrej Drukarow (Lithuania) also scored World Cup points last season. Hannes Zingerle, a South Tyrolean, has already trained with the Global Racing Team in 2022/23. “That will be a strange situation: Hirscher and Maurberger at the start of an FIS race. “ Simon Maurberger How does the training work? "Very easy. We will start ski training on the glacier in Saas Fee in July and then train in New Zealand for a month from mid-August. I will also take part in FIS races there to hopefully get good FIS points. Marcel Hirscher will probably also be there. “It will be a strange situation: Hirscher and Maurberger at the start of an FIS race,” he looks ahead with a laugh.

Simon Maurberger has had difficult times.

In addition to the new material and a new training group, Maurberger has also changed his dry training: “I have been training in a certain direction for 12 years now. I needed a new incentive, a new approach.” He laid the first foundation with a three-week stay in Sardinia, where he retired with his girlfriend Ally. While she worked on her laptop, he cycled countless kilometers. All with one goal: to get back to where he was, step by step. But he also needs starting opportunities – in the World Cup and the European Cup.

He is dependent on the goodwill of the national team coaches, who also have to nominate him for this. Maurberger: “I have already been promised the missions. But it is difficult to assess these promises. The fact is that the Italians have 5 starting places in the slalom, but only 4 athletes are represented in next year's slalom national team. A starting place would initially be free. Let’s see what happens.”

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What Maurberger and Hirscher have in common

It was no surprise that his name was missing from the list. When the Italian winter sports association FISI published the new squads of the national ski teams a few days ago, Simon Maurberger was missing. But he has a clear plan as to how he wants to get back to his old performance level.

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