2023-10-13 15:19:51
As the first real all-rounder of the “modern ski era”, the Carinthian is planning up to 45 World Cup starts. Like technology specialist Manuel Feller, he wants to compete for a podium place in every race.
When the Ski World Cup opens in Sölden in two weeks, on October 29th, Marco Schwarz will be starting a winter like a certain Bode Miller last tackled in the mid-2000s. The Carinthian is the new, only real all-rounder who has every race on the schedule, from the slalom to the downhill. At least for now. “I wouldn’t say whether I actually drove all 45 races in the end. But I’ll definitely be driving everywhere by Christmas,” says Schwarz. So 14 starts.
Schwarz will intensify his plan to increasingly compete in the speed disciplines. This is a huge challenge for a racing driver who has his roots in technology. The young Norwegian Lucas Braathen, for example, who would like to race in the Super-G himself, even describes this mission as “impossible” because the FIS calendar would not allow it. Black, on the other hand, wants to prove doubters wrong. He is less worried regarding physical fitness. “I didn’t do anything different in preparation, I feel very good.” He even turns the tables: “The most difficult thing for me mentally would be if I only competed in one discipline. I mightn’t do that.”
Marco Schwarz: “The biggest uncertainty is all the traveling”
Of course, the 28-year-old is aware of the challenges that await him. “The biggest uncertainty is the amount of traveling and how I will manage it.” In terms of sport, it remains to be seen whether Schwarz can establish himself at the top in all disciplines, as hoped. With bronze in the giant slalom and “Blech” in the downhill, he has already proven his potential at the World Championships in February. The first speed podium in the World Cup, second in the Super-G, followed. If the overall slalom winner from 2021 makes it onto the podium once more regularly in his former flagship discipline, then he might announce the fight for the big crystal ball to Marco Odermatt, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Co. “One thing is clear, every race is regarding the big points,” says Schwarz.
The first meaningful comparison with the competition follows in Sölden. In the giant slalom last season, the button opened for him in the second round of Schladming, where he went from 14th place to his first podium finish in the basic Alpine discipline. “That was an aha moment. I didn’t care. It sounds easy, but it’s not. I needed the anger in my stomach to do it,” he says. What he doesn’t need, however, is special support in the ÖSV, even though he is the only red-white-red contender for the overall World Cup. “I don’t have and don’t need my own team.”
Manuel Feller is fitter than ever
So while Schwarz is targeting around 40 races, his friend Manuel Feller is preparing for 24 events, 13 in the slalom and eleven in the giant slalom. Finishing fifth in the Slalom World Cup, the Tyrolean was the best of the ÖSV technicians last season, and neither the coaches in the collective nor Feller himself were completely satisfied with that. The World Cup in Courchevel/Méribel kept him busy for longer than was previously clear. Feller fell while entering the slalom, then was eliminated as the leader of the first run. “The fall had long lasting effects, which I carried with me until July. No excuse, but top performance was no longer possible following that,” explains the 31-year-old Tyrolean.
But now, says Feller, he is doing even better, even better than he has in years. “In terms of fitness, I haven’t felt in a long time, and I’ve never had to breathe so little during glacier training. This makes skiing really fun once more.” This fitness and mood should provide the basis for competing for a podium place in every race. “That’s my claim and goal. We’ll see what that’s enough for in the end. The density at the top is enormous,” says the Salzburg resident.
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