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Niels Hintermann laughs about a podium finish in Kitzbühel.
Niels Hintermann has a particularly rare gift. When the light on the slopes is poor, the man from Zurich drives particularly fast. “This is very likely due to the fact that when I was a child, I used to go on the slopes with my brother Sven, even in the worst conditions.” The conditions weren’t that bad when Hintermann started with the number 9 on his Friday “ramble”. But ground visibility was severely limited.
In comparable conditions, the 27-year-old finished third in the second descent in Kvitfjell last winter. The “downhill wild boar” from Bülach also finished third in Kitzbühel. And this placement even puts Hintermann above his only World Cup downhill victory so far on the first Kvitfjell downhill run in 2022. “There is no other downhill run in the World Cup circus that has the myth of Kitzbühel. In no other place have so many beautiful but also sad ski stories been written. And that’s why this result is particularly valuable for me.”
Help from mental trainer
Hintermann’s mental trainer also has a fair share of this success. “In total, it was about eight to ten hours that I worked towards this race with my mental trainer,” reveals Niels. «For years I couldn’t bring myself to push myself to the limit, especially when jumping over the local mountain. That’s one of the reasons why I went to a diving platform in the swimming pool with the mental trainer in the summer. With the jumps from seven and a half meters, I gained more and more confidence in my body. »
But Hintermann had to tremble for a long time about his first “podium place” on the Streif. Because visibility kept getting better in the second half of the race, South Tyrolean Florian Schieder (27) with number 43 thundered to second place behind Vincent Kriechmayr (Austria, 15 World Cup wins). Julian Schütter (24) was even faster with the 49 than Schieder. But then the Austrian was waved off with the yellow flag because the Norwegian Henrik Roea (26), who had started in front of him, suffered an open fracture in a fall shortly before the finish line.
Kilde after his almost fall: “It could have been really bad”(00:58)
Kriechmayr had to risk: “I took heart”(00:30)
Attention ski fans! Now quiz and type races
The 2022/2023 ski season is in full swing and so is the “Blick Ski Trophy”: Answer questions every day, type ski races and crown yourself as ski champion. Lots of great prizes await.
To take part in the “Blick Ski Trophy”, you have to register here.
Have fun and good luck!
The 2022/2023 ski season is in full swing and so is the “Blick Ski Trophy”: Answer questions every day, type ski races and crown yourself as ski champion. Lots of great prizes await.
To take part in the “Blick Ski Trophy”, you have to register here.
Have fun and good luck!