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Luca Aerni (left) has been in a really good mood again for around two weeks.
Not far from the Garmischer Gudiberg resides Germany’s longtime alpine monarch Felix Neureuther. In 2010 the son of “Gold-Rosi” Mittermaier (72, double Olympic champion 1976) and Christian Neureuther (73, 6 World Cup victories) celebrated his second of a total of 13 World Cup victories on his local mountain.
But when the 38-year-old looks up to the Gudiberg during these hours, he doesn’t have a good feeling about the men’s night slalom planned for Wednesday. “Although the slope workers have been doing their very best for days, I can hardly imagine that the route will last two runs. The pad is very thin due to the mild temperatures that have been around for weeks. And I’m afraid that it will be too mild for a World Cup race that evening as well.”
Aerni’s blockage has cleared
Despite these unfavorable forecasts, the atmosphere in the Swiss team is excellent. Especially for Daniel Yule (29), who celebrated his fifth World Cup victory in Madonna di Campiglio just before Christmas.
With Luca Aerni it was completely different at the beginning of this winter. Until mid-December, the 2017 combined world champion was hampered by an insidious blockage in his back muscles. “As a result, I had the greatest difficulty in standing more or less in the middle of the skis,” recalls the 29-year-old.
But for the past two weeks, Aerni, who grew up in the Bern region and whose main residence is now in the Crans Montana region, has been gaining momentum. “The muscular problem suddenly solved itself during training in Pozza di Fassa. Since then, I no longer have to fight to be centered on the skis. And I can work on things again that were no longer possible before.”
“When he’s fit, he’s one of the fastest in the world”
Eleventh place in Madonna di Campiglio showed that Aerni is on the right track. But slalom head coach Matteo Joris states that we can expect a lot more from Aerni in the long term. “Due to Luca’s back problems, the timing didn’t fit for a long time. But that fits very well now. And when Luca is fit, he’s one of the fastest slalom skiers in the world.”
Aerni will probably have a serious problem on Wednesday evening in the first round – the Gudiberg should be badly battered with his start number 24.
Attention ski fans! Now quiz and type races
The 2022/2023 ski season is coming up and with it 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 coming up and with it 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!