Michael Vogt will be starting late for the first time this season in the World Cup on Saturday. After his operation on his intervertebral disc, the best Swiss bobsleigh pilot wants to be cautious for the time being.
03.01.2025, 05:00
03.01.2025, 07:25
SDA
As always, Michael Vogt was a busy man between Christmas and New Year. On the one hand, the man from Schwyz celebrated his 27th birthday, and on the other, he completed two days of training on the bobsleigh track in St. Moritz. Before that, however, he had to exercise patience. On August 19, the 2023 World Championship bronze medalist in the two-man bobsleigh underwent an operation on his intervertebral disc.
"It was actually just a minor procedure," he explains in an interview with Keystone-SDA. "But it's just the back." It took three months before the trained polymechanic was able to do "everything" again. It was therefore clear early on that he would miss the start of the World Cup winter. Vogt completed two weeks of training in Lillehammer before Christmas and will now return to the World Cup this weekend in Winterberg, on Saturday in the two-man and on Sunday in the four-man.
Not yet in top form
For now, the trees are not growing into the sky. "It's clear that I'm still some way off my best form," says Vogt. In his absence, Cédric Follador and Timo Rohner have consistently achieved respectable rankings of 7 to 11 in the four World Cup races so far. Vogt cannot expect any more for the time being. As he explains, it is not least about collecting points for Switzerland and thus securing as many as three starting places as possible for the World Championships in March.
The pilot, who has previously been more successful in the two-man event, believes he has a better chance in the big sled. "It depends less on me there," he says. He is also hoping to work his way up into the top ten in the World Cup and then be in the first starting group. As it is difficult to get around the bends on the narrow track in Sigulda with the quad, only two-man World Cups were held there in mid-December, so there was only one race with the quad.
Focus on the 2026 Olympics
Vogt, who is missing his strongest pusher Sandro Michel after the serious accident in Altenberg last February, has completed many runs with his new sleds with the two-man. The two-man bobsleigh, designed by the Swiss association Swiss-Sliding, is particularly eagerly awaited in order to counter the Germans' superiority in terms of material. Vogt says that at the moment his old and the new two-man bobsleigh are equally fast. "Now it's about improving the right details."
The focus of the "Neos" project is mainly on the 2026 Olympic Games in the new ice track, which is currently being built in Cortina d'Ampezzo. This also applies to Michael Vogt. As a top athlete, he can't hide the fact that he would like to compete for medals again at the World Championships in Lake Placid in March, on a track that he really likes. "That's what you always want."
But he is also realistic enough to realize: "I'm not risking everything in training now, in the end everything is geared towards the 2026 Olympics." This is another reason why the most important thing he has learned in recent weeks is: "My back is holding up." Results are not the main focus for now.
