Kristoffersen's deep analysis of his crisis in giant: "It's a changed specialty, but the FIS ..."

On his personal blog, the Norwegian attacked the federation and the same technicians who track too fast heats. "I will attract criticism, but after having played over 70 at a high level I can tell you that it is no longer the discipline it was before. In Cortina, however, I will do everything to defend the world title".

Thursday 14 January 2021 5 minutes reading time

An outburst that seemed only the result of the immediate post-race, after seeing a teammate like Lucas Braathen suffer a very serious injury, followed the next day by the accident that occurred to Tommy Ford. Henrik Kristoffersen, after the second giant of Adelboden, had already talked about a dangerous race and too high speeds, but just today, by signing his usual appointment on his personal blog, the reigning world champion of the specialty has increased the dose, analyzing in detail a situation which, among other things, at a sporting level sees him in great difficulty in terms of results. Now Kristoffersen will focus on the slalom, between the double appointment in Flachau (on a track that certainly does not favor him, if we think that he should have run in Kitz where he has always done very well), then the Schladming classic where he won three times and finally two other races in Chamonix, to try to get back into the game for a general classification that sees him very far (over 300 points) from Alexis Pinturault ”. “At least so far, this has been the most difficult season of my career and I have reflected on the reasons - wrote HK94 - I will do everything in my power to return to the level for which you have all known me. I'm not actually worried about salom, where speed and technique are there and I think I have collected less than my performance. I'm working on small adjustments to go faster on the plans, having suffered in Badia and Zagreb, but also in the first heat of Adelboden where I practically lost 9 tenths only there ”. Then the analysis on what is happening in the giant: "I think that a lot of things have changed in the last two years, we travel at much higher speeds with less winding tracks and for me it is a disadvantage - explains the Norwegian - It is not the giant that I lived for 8 years in the World Cup, but I am the first to recognize that I have not adapted to this new course. At the same time I feel like saying that this is not a real giant; skiing involves risks, but these are not the types of risks I want to take and the perfect example comes from last weekend in Adelboden, with four serious injuries and those of Braathen and Ford caused in particular by high speeds. This year we were almost 10 seconds faster than previous years on the same track: the FIS has spent enormous resources to work on the radius and length of the ski, but allows the coaches to track runs like that. It's just my opinion, without wanting to discredit the athletes who are strong now in this type of competition, but I have played 71 high level giants and I don't like the direction that is taking, although I am sure many will tell me to ski only faster. Anyway, now I will have a month to adapt as much as possible and improve to try to defend my world title in Cortina ”.

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