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It is a phrase or two or a few whispered words that today could decide whether or not to receive a medal. When Laurien van der Graaff hands Nadine Fähndrich one last time in the team sprint, he takes a deep breath to call out his teammate with the last of his might. “She always yells at me,” says Fähndrich. ‘In Dresden, for example, he shouted:’ You can do it! You’re the best! “She just knows what I need right now.”
The 33-year-old knows her successor, 8 years her junior, as the best Swiss sprinter. She doesn’t have to worry too much about it. “It comes completely from the intestine and it also depends on the position in which it passes.” She always found the right words in the end. Throughout the season, the two made it to the podium four times in four team races, forming a well-rehearsed duo. What certainly can’t be wrong is giving Faehndrich an extra bit of self-confidence for the final replacement. Because the belief in your own strength is now there with the shy owner. But it is often easy to shake too.
Faehndrich was on the ground
Like now? “Anything but a medal would be a disappointment,” he said earlier in the week, before his first appearance in the sprint classic. This ends in a debacle. Fähndrich, who starts the race with at least chances other than a medal, fails in qualifying. She is devastated and talks about one of the biggest disappointments of her life. Bankruptcy hurts. And it sounds like perseverance when she says, “I’ll make sure I’m more than ready on Sunday.”
Hopefully Van der Graaff can guarantee this with the right words before the first few races. Because for a medal you need both in top form. Including our duo, six teams are seriously eligible for the podium.
A few years ago it would have been considered impossible for a Swiss women’s team to reach the stars today. Van der Graaff was a lone fighter. I missed a teammate. But her self-confidence, high ambitions, and the fact that she trained outside the Swiss ski structures were interpreted as a diva for her. That’s why her male colleagues referred to her backstage as “Paris Hilton.”
Suddenly the team spirit is fine
But in 2015 that suddenly changed when Nathalie von Siebenthal and Fähndrich joined the World Cup. Suddenly, Van der Graaff had a team behind him. “That’s why I remember the last years very well. It is much more preferable to go to the World Cup from home. You can also talk and laugh about other things, ”says Van der Graaff. “Nadine, for example, has a very good sense of self-irony. We have so much fun every night. “
Faehndrich owes a lot to his colleague. “We got along very well from the beginning and she helped me a lot. With lots of advice ”, reveals Fähndrich. Exactly what? Van der Graaff relayed his bad experiences. “I have seen it all, from afar not only positive, but also low. I think I was able to teach him that you should not take everything too personally. “Although they usually share a room, in Oberstdorf now they are each for them. By Corona. And because the Swiss team is alone in the hotel and has more space That’s enough, that doesn’t change the team spirit.
“We create an optimal mix,” says Fähndrich. “A medal in the team sprint would be better for me.” With the right words from Van der Graaff, it could work today.
