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“At least you can eliminate the mass and density with which four or five winning runners emerge from a crop,” says Dorfmeister. In theory, Austria hasn’t actually been the number one ski nation since last season at the latest. This has nothing less to do with the resignation of series winner and points provider Marcel Hirscher.
But also this winter, after the first quarter of the World Cup without winning, the ÖSV team is only in third place (women) and four (men). In the case of women, Switzerland and Italy are ahead of Austria. Switzerland is also ahead in men, ahead of Norway and France.
Regional issues too
In the post-Hirscher era, things went wrong particularly in the men’s giant slalom. Dorfmeister (“It’s sad”) fears this may be the result of earlier development. But I don’t want to comment on that. Otherwise, it means everyone has a voice in the game, as is customary in football, ”said the 47-year-old former runner, who is a member of the Rapid Presidium, a few days before the women’s home race in Semmering.
As vice president of the Lower Austrian Ski Association, the former World Cup runner and Olympic participant also has to grapple with regional issues as young skiers from eastern Austria lack certain opportunities. “From the bottom up, we are finding it increasingly difficult to get athletes to a certain level. Our runners last drove a thousand kilometers in a week so they could ski a little. So you have to face many difficulties. My A-team has melted from five to two because three quit. “
“Always a brutal sport”
Dorfmeister knows what he’s talking about. As a Lower Austrian, she had to drive tens of thousands of kilometers each year to join the ÖSV team as a “ranger”. In 2006, after 14 years and 25 World Cup victories, she resigned as a double Olympic champion and world champion, as well as the overall winner of the World Cup (2002). The mother of a daughter hopes that, similar to the last one in Lech / Zürs, a structure will also be created for the ski races in Hochkar. The corona virus has put current plans on the back burner.
Of course, the offspring in Salzburg or Tyrol find it easier, says Dorfmeister. But you see a general problem that affects everyone. “Skiing has always been a brutal sport. It’s not funny if you handle it professionally. Elaborate, expensive, you have no free time, you hardly have fun. The three main topics are exercising, eating, sleeping, and then exercising again. Unfortunately, young people no longer do that to themselves today, ”said Dorfmeister. “You need extreme individualists and fanatics.”
And that also in the family sphere. “But you can count the parents who travel all over Austria with their children on one side. The population has become comfortable, ”said the fourth giant slalom of Semmering 2000, and said that increased mobility, social networks, etc. they have their price. In many ski areas there are now more activities in summer than in winter. Dorfmeister believes there is much to come for the new leadership of ÖSV.
“Much could come off”
After Kathrin Zettel, a woman from Lower Austria who won RTL twice (2006 and 2008) in Semmering, Katharina Gallhuber and Katharina Huber are again two from Lower Austria in the Semmering races this year. With regards to later generations, Dorfmeister hopes that the year of the coronavirus will not bring a rude awakening in young sports.
“I’m really worried that a lot of things might get away because of Corona,” she fears. “When I’m twelve or 13 when I was a kid and I train like crazy and then suddenly I don’t have any more competitions for a year, I naturally wonder why I torture myself so much.” According to Dorfmeister, that is now in almost all sports. so. “Everyone is almost exclusively at home. But if you’re used to team training and suddenly you can’t do it anymore, it has extreme effects. “
