Hämmerle out of action

“My state of health doesn’t allow it”

Olympic snowboard cross champion Alessandro Hämmerle is still not having the best of luck this season. After having to miss the start of the season due to problems with a gliding vertebra, he was recently absent in Turkey with a fever. As it turned out, a major construction site - which will also slow him down for the World Cup doubles in Georgia this weekend.

"From what I've seen on the videos, the course in Gudauri is no longer as curvy as last season, but straighter, more for jumping, simply more for shooting," enthuses Alessandro "Izzi" Hämmerle ahead of the upcoming World Cup weekend in Georgia. "That's why it hurts twice as much that I can't be there."

Hämmerle already had to miss the World Cup in Erzurum, Turkey, last weekend due to illness. "I flew back to Austria on Monday and saw a doctor straight away," says the Olympic champion from Beijing. "It then turned out that I had caught some kind of bacterial infection. It's just a pain." Nevertheless, the 31-year-old from Montafon left the start in Georgia open until Thursday. "But my state of health simply doesn't allow me to compete."

Full concentration on the two highlights of the season
Not an easy situation for the three-time overall World Cup winner. "Timing is never good when you're ill, but right now it's extremely bad," says Izzi, who is missing three races in one week. Nevertheless, he is already looking ahead again: "Now I can concentrate fully on the home World Cup in Montafon and the World Championships in St. Moritz."