As a slalom skier, Linus Straßer is one of the masters of imagination.
"I have every goal in my head," said the 30-year-old from Munich before the race in Kitzbühel.
His trick: During the tour, he memorizes the key points in a certain rhythm.
"One, two, three, hairpin" or "two, three, four, long pull".
The memory on skis helps him to find his way while driving so that the supposedly impenetrable forest of poles loses its terror.
Achim Dreis
sports editor.
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It didn't help, however, to pull the luck of fractions of a second on his side on Sunday.
After two rounds, Straßer finished fourth with a total time of 1:45.05 minutes, an extremely narrow defeat.
He was a hundredth of a second behind Norwegian Luca Braathen's podium finish.
To the second place of the Briton Dave Ryding two.
Victory was secured by Swiss Daniel Yule (1:44.63), who benefited from the failure of the previously leading local hero Manuel Feller from nearby Fieberbrunn.
“I am very good on skis”
Fourth place "has never hurt him as much as it does today," said Straßer.
He could be quite satisfied with his performance, in which he "moved to the limit" in the second run.
Because Kitzbühel had not been his favorite race at all until now - even though he had learned to ski here as a child.
On the Ganslernhang, which is considered treacherous, he had previously competed seven times and eliminated five times.
His best results were two 14th places.
“Better than fourteenth” was his modest wish beforehand.
And he did it easily.
"I'm very good on skis," said Linus Straßer after the first run, which he finished third without wanting to appear arrogant.
The most recent series speaks for him: third in Madonna, third in Adelboden, fourth in Wengen, now fourth in Kitzbühel.
Only a failure in Garmisch disturbs the picture.
But the next challenge awaits on Tuesday in Schladming.
And he won there last year.
Even difficult tasks can be solved with the feeling of security, knowing what is coming – even if a task like on the Ganslernhang has many difficulties in store due to the topography with waves, paths and edges.
Straßer's own specification was therefore: follow the flow intuitively.
"You mustn't put your boot on the slope", but "you have to show respect to the terrain".
This also includes allowing a certain “loss of control”.
His salsa on skis was tolerable, even if he was sad at the end.
Because in his dreams he had been even faster.
Because that is also part of the truth of Straßer's slalom memory: if he simulates a complete run in his mind and stops the time, he always manages it faster than in real life.