Breathing exercises in Europa Park instead of a glacier session: Plaschy and Albrecht revolutionize ski training

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In his sporting heyday, Daniel Albrecht often took harsh measures against his coaches. Such as on December 12, 2008, when his trainer flagged off the combined slalom in Val d’Isère, putting the Swiss back in the final rankings after a strong descent. “On this run he pretty much did the opposite of what we wanted him to do. It will be better for us Swiss if the giant and slalom races are again run by foreign trainers in the future,” the Valais hissed in the finish area.

Almost five weeks later, the 2007 combined world champion suffered a horrific fall during the finish jump in Kitzbühel. The 40-year-old still attributes the fact that he was unable to reach the top of the world after a serious traumatic brain injury to the lack of support from the coaching team at the time.

Groundbreaking telephone conversation with Didier Plaschy

Albrecht himself has been working as a coach for a few months – in the regional performance center Upper Valais, Fiescher trains 21 girls and boys with former slalom champion Didier Plaschy (50, 2 World Cup victories). “When Didier asked me on the phone if I wanted to work with him at the RLZ, I was initially against it,” Albrecht admits. «But then Plaschy inspired me with his special philosophy. I quickly noticed that he always organizes the training in such a way that it is extremely interesting for these young athletes. That’s why I said yes.”

An example from the penultimate Saturday of September shows that the coaching duo Plaschy-Albrecht wants to revolutionize alpine training. On this day, the young Valais hopefuls did not train on the glacier, but on the infamous Silver Star track in the Europa Park in Rust (De). «On the Silver Star we feel a maximum load of 3 G. This is almost identical to the load we feel in a perfect slalom curve. And that is why on this roller coaster we can practice the optimal breathing technique for serious battles on the ski slopes,” Plaschy explains.

No screaming on the monster roller coaster

For this purpose, the ski legends have hired the Visper mental coach and hypnotherapist Jean Pierre Bringhen. He must teach the young talents the correct breathing technique. Before they go to the Silver Star, the Valais ski children are not allowed to shout. Why? “If you put the Silver Star into compression from a height of 73 meters and scream, all the air comes out. But a competitive ski racer needs a full lung when riding through demanding compression to avoid being completely compressed. That is why it is important to inhale compression during the maximum load.”

The children have fulfilled this requirement exemplarily. Not a single sound can be heard on the four rides that the RLZ students take on the tallest steel roller coaster in the world. 15-year-old Elias is completely surprised: “It is truly incredible what an enormous impact this has had. With the right breathing technique, the ride on this monster train becomes almost boring. And I am sure that this experience on the ski slopes can take us much further.” Didier Plaschy and Dani Albrecht are also convinced of this. And that is why this will not be the last training that the RLZ Obervalais gave in Europapark.

Source : Blick