Austria hopes for the future with the "mini Hirscher": the story of the very young Luca Stocker

Nine years old last February, the Carinthian boy is considered a formidable talent. The Atomic already follows him, the same house that has accompanied the career of his idol. Even if the "grown-ups" warn: "Don't exaggerate with the pressures".

Sunday 29 March 2020 5 minutes reading time

The most attentive fans will have already noticed it, since the videos of his descents have made records of online views and in Austria there has been a lot of talk about this boy with formidable talent. His name is Luca Stocker, he was only 9 years old on February 20 and it is clear that, in cases like these, the main danger is to put him under pressure, in addition to stress and training, exaggerated for his age. They already call him "mini Hirscher", given that the style is in some ways similar and his idol is precisely the champion of Annaberg who is so lacking in the beacon nation of the white circus; little Luca is from Maria Rain, a small town in Carinthia where he began to take his first steps on the snow, led by his father Roland and his little sister Laura at his side. He has won practically everything in the categories and reviews he has taken part in, already followed in a very professional manner since Atomic herself has followed and supported him for some time, ever since Roland Stocker published (it was 2018) the first videos of Luca capable of incredible creases at just 6 years. The Carinthian Talentino also surprised by the personality shown in the first interviews and the first appearances on television, demonstrating an out of the ordinary belief and ambition for a 2011 class. It is no coincidence that, between training and competitions, he uses at least five days of the week even when he is busy with elementary school. As often happens, even great champions have expressed themselves on the potential of Austrian talent, warning how the family should manage it better; if father Roland is in constant contact with two athletes like Stephanie Venier and Nicole Schmidhofer, in the past weeks also former exes like Michaela Kirchgasser and Armin Assinger have spoken to the Austrian media. The Salzburg junior world champion and medalist several times worldwide, confessed that she had known Luca for at least three years and was impressed: "It's crazy how you drive skiing - the words of Kirchgasser at Heute-Sport - I haven't never had the ability to have such a cut, one curve after another, but now Luca must have a lot of attention on himself and I hope he has the right people around him to manage it ". Armin Assinger, the former Wunderteam downhill racer and well-known ORF commentator and protagonist of various TV shows for years, was even clearer: “At his age he should think of other curves than those on skis ... - he joked - Having said that, in 10 years I hope to be able to see him as a protagonist ”. And dad Roland Stocker made it clear: “It was a surprise to have so many comments from great champions, Armin is absolutely right that we should pay maximum attention to Luca's adolescence. He's been on skis since he was two years old and loves to train, let's try to accompany him and make him have fun. "

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