The environmental problem is currently overshadowing the joy of skiing.

Do you still enjoy being a skier, especially a professional skier?

Achim Dreis

sports editor.

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In any case.

Very, very much fun.

I think it's an incredibly beautiful sport.

And that we should definitely keep it.

Statements as radical as skiing is no longer up-to-date or should be banned are the wrong approach.

Skiing gets people out into nature in winter and gets them moving.

Against the background of increasing screen time and more overweight children and young people, it is important to be able to practice this sport, especially in the dark season.

The discussion was heated up by the energy problem in addition to global warming.

Sölden was difficult, Zermatt dropped out, as did the parallel races in Lech/Zürs.

Do you really have to hold ski races in October and November or should you start winter later?

I believe that winter has been pushed back over the last few years.

That's why we should make better use of the spring and see that we start two or three weeks later.

But in and of itself there is nothing wrong with glacier racing.

There are usually good snow conditions.

Now the first race is finally upon you

on Sunday in Val d'Isère

(9.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. at Eurosport) .

You did well in slalom last winter, won Schladming and finished fifth in the World Cup rankings.

How did you spend the summer so that you might be able to raise your level even more?

The most difficult thing in competitive sports - not only in slalom, but in all sports - is to be consistently good.

But what you often see with people who have had a very successful season is that they totally drop out the next.

Because they think: "Now I have to do something very special again".

But the art lies in the simplicity.

The slalom is extremely mental: not doing more than is necessary is the key for me.

I would have thought exactly the opposite now: that drivers who were good think they've made it, don't need to train as much and that's why they slipped down.

I find it an interesting approach that they go into too much detail and therefore slack off.

So a certain looseness is part of it, as well as self-confidence: is it good the way I do it?

Absolutely.

The looseness is important.

I think everyone knows that: when you fall into a mode where you think: I have to be particularly good now - that's the worst thing there is.

Then it doesn't come from you anymore. You have to allow it.

This is one of the reasons why constant performances, such as Marcel Hirscher has called for over the years, are extremely impressive.

After Hirscher quit, eight different runners won in ten slaloms last winter, which makes it particularly exciting from the outside.

Is that the same for you or is it rather stressful when there are so many good people?

It's ambiguous.

First and foremost, competition stimulates business.

But of course it's tough when I take on the slalom in Flachau, for example.

I'm doing a super race there, I'm in third place up to the last split and just don't take the last transition quite cleanly.

And finish ninth.

ninth!

But it's all the nicer when you win in Schladming with a lead of three hundredths.

"Skiing also lives from mistakes"

Do you actually recognize it while driving when time stands still?

Or do you sometimes feel so good skiing that you lose track of time?

Do you notice if it not only feels good but is also fast or do you have to look at the clock below?