Seventh place and second-best Austrian in Levi – that works. Of course I’d hoped for a bit more, but after my mistake in the second run I was just glad I stayed in.

In the finish area I was frustrated for a moment, because without that mistake a podium would definitely have been possible. But you get over it quickly. Conditions in Finland were really tough today. The slope had been watered and there was a lot of salt in it. Overnight it froze hard, so it was extremely icy. In conditions like that you have to get the setup exactly right. On the one hand you need very sharp edges, because the salt takes away some of the sharpness. On the other hand the course was very aggressive with lots of bumps. So it wasn’t easy for my service man and me to find the right balance, especially as I’ve only been on the new model for three days.

First real test for the new ski

Levi was therefore a real equipment battle right away. In the first run I took a bit of risk out, because I didn’t have any experience with the new ski on the steep section yet. The run was solid; I didn’t carve two or three turns the way I wanted, but the rest was fine. I couldn’t go right to the limit because the ski was chattering quite a lot. In the second run I was doing well, but then came the mistake: the skis went sideways for a moment and I lost a lot of time – otherwise a podium would probably have been on. All in all, it was the first real test for my new ski, and it passed well.

What’s next?

I’ll use the coming break to recover, do strength and fitness training and, above all, build confidence in the new ski. You need to know exactly how the ski reacts in tricky situations and know it 100%. So there’s a lot to do and a lot to try, so I can go full throttle again at the next race in Val d’Isère. I’ll keep you posted.

Yours, Michi