South Tyrolean ski talent changes sport: “Olympia is my goal”

“You have enormous potential, just stick with it,” Zuech has heard this advice countless times in his career. In fact, things were steadily improving for the downhill skier from Lana for a long time. He made it to the European Cup, where he achieved his best result of 2018th in Reinswald in 13. But then it was the end of the line. “I was handicapped by injuries for several years, but I always gave 100 percent. “It just wasn’t enough to make the big leap,” says Zuech quite openly. “The World Cup is a completely different beast than the European Cup, only a few make it there.”

There is no melancholy in the Burggräfler's words; rather, he speaks enthusiastically about his new venture, the ski cross discipline. “Skiing is my life, and this gives me additional motivation and really awakens a great desire in me.”

Dominik Zuech has been training on the Stilfserjoch for the past few weeks.

In contrast to the Alpine downhill or Super-G, Zuech will no longer measure himself exclusively on the stopwatch, but against three competitors who will race down the jumps, waves and curves at the same time as him. “I took part in a training session in March just for fun and immediately discovered my passion for ski cross,” remembers Zuech, who finally made the switch to freestyle discipline in the summer at the age of 23. Klotz and Thanei serve as role models Zuech is by no means an isolated case, as long-time Ski World Cup athletes Sigi Klotz and Stefan Thanei had already made the same jump before him. The Lananer has known both of them since his youth. “Thanei has also worked as a ski cross coach. He kept suggesting I change. I am very happy that I made this decision, even though I have a difficult time ahead of me.” In fact, he first has to recommend himself over the European Cup for one of the six World Cup starting places in the Italian team. Next year at the latest he wants to drive the big international races, like the one in Innichen. “I’m really enjoying skiing again” In the long term, Zuech wants to go even further, as he himself reveals: “I'm still at the very beginning, but at some point my goal will definitely be the Olympics. That's my dream.” The chances of taking part in the Winter Games are undoubtedly greater in ski cross than in the Alpine circus, which is brimming with competition. First of all, the youngster, who also works on a farm and in a ski school, wants to gain experience and enjoy “the brutal joy of skiing” in a new way.

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South Tyrolean ski talent changes sport: “Olympia is my goal”

For a long time, Dominik Zuech was one of the biggest local young hopes in the Alpine skiing circus. Until last spring, he tried to knock on the World Cup door, but it remained closed. Now he is taking a new, much faster path.

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