How love can inspire

Was there anything else? Oh yes, an incredibly bad kick from the World Cup host at the start of the World Cup. The Qatari selection was completely overwhelmed in all respects against Ecuador. Their own fans almost hastily left the stadium during the half-time break. I can't hide a little glee. You probably can't buy everything with petrodollars after all. The famous euphoria brake is now being used with pleasure, especially since at the moment all we have to do is press the brakes anyway. With electricity, with gas, with fuel. Even when skiing. When leafing through various publications that also appear on Sunday, I read that the German slalom rider Lena Dürr even put on the handbrake in the second run in Levi. She initially led in the first slalom and then came fourth. Almost the same thing happened to her in the second edition. Then she fell from second place back to fourth place.

I'm trying to imagine her pulling the handbrake lever hard, like on older car models, or just briefly touching a small button with her index finger, like on new cars. Suddenly the momentum is gone and so is the place on the podium. Poor Lena, because of course the brake is not part of her equipment. It should go from the mountain to the valley quickly and as smoothly as possible. Just a few years ago the reports in this case would have sounded like this: “Successful start to the season for Lena Dürr. Fourth place twice.” Now it sounds like this: “Lena Dürr only finished fourth twice at the start of the season.” Only. A word like a slap in the face, like a slap in the face. In his somewhat typical sarcastic manner, German alpine boss Wolfgang Mair said that she had shown that she was one of the top five slalom skiers in the world. That's almost a little evil and mean. The supposedly great skiing nation of Austria, for example, would have issued a special stamp if it came fourth. But expectations change and with them the commentary on current results. What used to be great is now inadequate.

Love makes for quick swings The top athlete has to function. If he doesn't manage to do that, with a bit of luck he will be accompanied by compassion, but normally a depressing tone of voice will quickly lead to merciless destruction. Mikaela Shiffrin, for example, the beaming winner of Levi, has now covered the entire range of emotions. She left the Olympic Games in Beijing as the big favorite in some competitions without an individual medal. Even in the relatively easy combination slalom she was eliminated and was then just a heap of misery. The feeling for the snow, for the momentum and the delicate yet energetic use of edges was gone. It simply disappeared and could no longer be reactivated in a short period of time during the games. Now she is back again, has achieved victories 67 and 68 with her successes in Levi and has thus overtaken Lindsey Vonn with successes in one discipline. The Beijing disaster has been overcome. Shiffrin's successes at the start of the season made one thing very clear: only those who are happy can be successful. The American has no new skis, no new head coach and therefore the familiar environment. And yet everything is different, everything is new. It is love that helped her overcome the greatest low of her life, which was triggered by the unfortunate death of her father, who was her great caregiver. There is a saying that I find quite appropriate. “Luck inspires us, we get stuck with bad luck.” The man who gives Shiffrin wings is a friendly Viking and one of the best skiers at the moment. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.

She visited him in Norway and Kilde flew with her to Colorado, where her family lives. They trained together. In the gym and also on skis. And Kilde said with a smile that he had to stretch quite a bit to be able to keep up with his sweetheart. Infatuation is the state in which infinite energies are released in the body. Suddenly everything seems to work so easily and buoyantly. Ask Mikaela Shiffrin, who was an Olympic champion at the age of 18. Now she is 27 years old, knows life and the suffering that comes with it and, above all, knows how quickly a life can change in a fixed way. Now, of course, the greatest feat still awaits them, the greatest challenge. The butterflies in your stomach need to be fed and the wing beats, which may be less intense in between, need to be activated at all times. Love has to be cultivated, which has to work for her and Kilde even from a distance during the season, because the women's and men's races always take place in different locations. Seen this way, both of them chose the wrong job. Biathlon would be the ideal partner sport because the women's and men's races are held at the same competition locations week after week. The statistics confirm an unusually high number of partnerships in this sport. But even so, I'm not worried about the dream couple of alpine skiing, although Kilde now has to show in the next races that Cupid can inspire him too. The competition should be warned.

About the author: Sigi Heinrich The renowned sports journalist, author and award-winning Eurosport commentator (including winner of the German Television Prize and the Bavarian Sports Prize) not only dedicates his column “Sigi's Spitze” to the entire diversity of sport. He also deals with topics outside of his usual profession. Sometimes very seriously, often with a mischievous wink and sometimes deliberately provocative. There should be something for everything. In the coming winter season he will commentate on curling, figure skating and, as always since 1997, all biathlon races for Eurosport (with Olympic champion Michael Rösch as co-commentator).

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How love can inspire

Football isn't everything, as our columnist Sigi Heinrich discovered. After a slow start and many cancellations, alpine skiing is well on its way to being remembered again with beautiful stories and great races. Mikaela Shiffrin in particular manages an emotional comeback.

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