Marcel Hirscher's return to alpine racing is accompanied by doubts and questions. Having fun as the reason for his return seems to be only half the story.
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- One and a half weeks remain until the new ski season kicks off with the giant slaloms in Sölden. It is still unclear whether returnee Marcel Hirscher will be at the start.
- In any case, the 35-year-old's comeback is accompanied by doubts and questions. There are contradictions that pose puzzles.
- For the moment, the planning is for one season. Hirscher does not completely rule out the option of an extension.
He would like to. But he hasn't made up his mind yet, he can't and won't announce his decision. Hirscher obviously still lacks the conviction to be ready for the World Cup giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier above Sölden the Sunday after next. The man from Salzburg is still struggling to decide whether the time is ripe for his return five years after his retirement.
Ripe for what? The focus should be on having fun, not the battle for hundredths of a second. Hirscher has been emphasizing this again and again since he officially announced his intention to be a ski racer again six months ago. It's not the same anymore, he says, he himself is no longer the same. He notices serious differences in his physical condition. He considers the tuning work on the material to be far from complete. The tinkerer knows of "countless components" that can be improved.
It doesn't sound like a complete change of heart after the change of nation from Austria to the Netherlands, his mother's country of birth. There are contradictions that are puzzling. Off-piste training should now focus on general fitness and be geared towards health. "There's no comparison with the past, when everything revolved around the best possible performance. Now what counts for me is more than just being fast between red and blue."
Preserved values
Hirscher describes the five years since his departure as formative, exciting, varied and intense. The venues have become more numerous. The former top athlete has made the career change to businessman with his own ski company seemingly without any problems. What he has retained is his meticulousness, his love of detail, his longing for new solutions, for constant progress, for success.
And now he just wants to have fun on the slopes? Racing as a break from the stress of everyday life as a ski producer? Racing self-experiments to further develop the company's own products? Should ambitions be put on the back burner, should the inner drive to compete at the top once again be switched off? It's hard to believe - all the more so when Hirscher talks about not being ready yet.
His current physical condition and the current state of his equipment set-up would certainly be enough just to have fun if Sölden didn't come too soon. The assertion made in many places that an eight-time overall World Cup winner does not compete in order to finish fifteenth is definitely not entirely far-fetched. On the other hand, the predictions of former competitors who believe Hirscher can make it to the top again are more doubtful. The doubts about his new, true standard of performance will only come to an end with Hirscher's first race this winter and there will be answers to the many questions.
Hirscher may no longer be the dogged athlete with the endless greed for victories, medals and trophies. Perhaps he can no longer be. Five years of absence have also left their mark on the very best of days gone by. He may be well advised to look at his return to the sport from a different perspective, to approach it detached from his former successes, to let bygones be bygones.
Dominant thoughts
Only Hirscher himself knows whether he is ready for this - or not. When he talks after the training camp in the Round Hill area in New Zealand about the zero hour of a long road that still lies ahead of him to reach his former level again, he has not yet finished with his first career. The hope of turning back the clock still seems to dominate his thoughts. The seriousness of the matter is obviously still too dominant to allow the fun factor to take center stage in his heart. To speak not of a comeback, but of a project of the heart, is not enough.
Hirscher's planning is geared towards one season. At the moment anyway. He does not completely rule out the option of an extension. "Never say never". Again, he creates room for questions and speculation. Despite other ambitions and changing demands, success could be a good additional argument for continuing beyond the coming winter. Besides the fun, of course.
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