World Cup opener
Sölden: Ski fans hope for Hirscher’s “yes” tomorrow
Last-minute trip: Marcel Hirscher will decide on (tomorrow) Friday whether he will compete in Sölden on Sunday - Lucas Braathen is doing it fix and wants to challenge superstar Marco Odermatt right away.
Marcel Hirscher zel namelijk zijn debuut maken onder de Nederlandse vlag.
A rather banal sentence in Dutch. But what the Dutch ski federation had put out into the world on Tuesday, full of naïve anticipation, was highly explosive. In German: Marcel Hirscher will make his debut under the Dutch flag. In Sölden, of course.
The news was immediately denied by Hirscher's team. The decision about a race start on the glacier on Sunday will be announced on Friday. Period.
But since then, the already huge speculation has run rampant. Did it really just happen to the Dutch? Or was it an indiscretion about a fact that had already been decided?
The fact is: Not only the ski association of Marcel's new home country is eagerly awaiting his comeback, the ski fans here in Germany are also longing for a clear "yes" from him to the Sölden race tomorrow. Only Hirscher is still hesitating. Even the last training sessions have not (completely) convinced him to start on Sunday. There are pros, there are cons ...
"Marcel often decides in the last run," shrugs Mike Pircher. He was Hirscher's assistant coach in his first career and has witnessed many last-minute decisions over the years. Most recently, he watched the 35-year-old in training: "It's probably a 50:50 thing, I understand that."
"Came back to be the best"
Pircher is now the coach of the other big comebacker in Sölden. Lucas "Pinheiro" Braathen. The neo-Brazilian will start on Sunday. At his return presentation in the James Bond Museum high above Sölden (3048m), he didn't exactly set the bar low. "What Dennis Rodman is to basketball, Steve Jobs is to technology and Ronaldinho is to soccer - I always wanted to be like them. And I've come back to be the best," said the 24-year-old, whose Red Bull team will be kitted out by Moncler with immediate effect.
Superstar Marco Odermatt (27) hears the challenge. From Sunday, the Swiss will be the hunted on the World Cup slopes.
And remains calm. His new Kondi coach Alejo Hervas from Spain (previously Lara Gut-Behrami) has "made him even stronger".
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