Alexander schmid enjoyed the champagne shower at the moment of his great success to the fullest. "Sparkling, full of alcohol and simply pure pleasure," is how the ski racer described the taste of his well-deserved reward.
With third place in the giant slalom in alta badia, the 27-year-old from allgau gave the men’s team of the german ski association (DSV) its biggest triumph so far this olympic winter. "This has always been my dream and now it has come true," said schmid, who did not want to leave the icy gran risa at all.
Schmid: "it was a tremendous race"
Just a few days ago, men’s national coach christian schwaiger had declared that the "cracker" in this season was still a long time coming. Now it is here. After schmid didn’t even make it into the top 30 the day before, this time he raced like he was unleashed. "It was a tremendous race," said schmid, who was already in third place after the first round. When the green one also lit up after the second run, it was done: in 52. World cup race finally the first "real podium" place. So far, the bavarian had only finished in the top three in parallel events.
Overjoyed, the DSV athlete tore up his skis after crossing the finish line. Then he jumped into the arms of his cheering support team. Unlike at the world championships in cortina d’ampezzo in february, when schmid was eliminated after finishing third in the first run, this time he demonstrated all his skills in two consecutive runs. "I have had intensive discussions with my coaches about how it can be that I always lose in the second run," reported schmid. The time will come for a podium finish, they assured him. The time came on this monday.
Schmid finished 1.09 seconds behind the once again outstanding swiss marco odermatt, who already celebrated his fourth victory of the season and remains the dominator in the technical disciplines. Second place went to local hero luca de aliprandini (+1.01), who caused frenetic cheers in the stands.
Thoughts on the brother
Schmid also dedicated his third place to his brother manuel, who is one year older than him and who will be out for the whole season after a serious training fall in summer. "Now i’m going for a ride for both of us," schmid had said to himself. "It’s such a nice christmas present for us," says the allgauer.
His teammate julian rauchfub had as 44. Missed the second run on monday in alta badia. Fabian gratz did not even start after his fall the day before, when he suffered a bruised shoulder on his left leg.