Not a single podium finish yet: Swiss coach gives rise to Kristoffersen crisis

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It was the most spectacular transfer of a ski brand in the history of the Alps: in the spring of 2022, Henrik Kristoffersen switched from Rossignol to Marcel Hirscher’s Van Deer skis. The ‘marriage’ between the Norwegian (30 individual World Cup victories) and the eight-time overall World Cup winner from Austria was also so explosive because they could not stand each other until Hirscher’s resignation in 2019.

However, last winter the two exceptional phenomena came together. In the slalom in Garmisch, Kristoffersen achieved his first World Cup victory on Hirscher skis and six weeks later he won slalom gold at the World Championships in Courchevel.

“That was miserable!”

But the 29-year-old Norwegian has not yet achieved a podium finish this season. The 2019 world champion in giant slalom had his low point just before Christmas in Alta Badia. Kristoffersen had to settle for seventh place twice in the double giant at the Gran Risa due to obvious set-up problems.

What particularly worried the ambitious man from the Oslo region was the deficit: in the first race he was beaten by 3.10 seconds by the star Marco Odermatt, 24 hours later Kristoffersen lost 2.67 seconds to the man from Nidwalden. “We looked really miserable in Alta Badia,” analyzed Kristoffersen’s Swiss coach Jörg Roten.

The Valais explains where his protégé’s problem lies. «Last winter Henrik rode with the Lange shoe because he was used to it from the Rossignol era. After Lange ended the collaboration last spring, probably under pressure from Rossignol, Van Deer built his own shoe, which we received shortly before the start of the World Cup in Sölden. So far we haven’t found the right match between boots and skis.”

“There is a risk that we will lose track!”

The brother of former vice world champion slalom Karin Roten (47) explains how complex this search for the right setup is: “Last year it was relatively easy to match skis and boots, because Henrik had years of experience with the Lange -fashion model. We miss these elementary indications with the new Van Deer shoe and therefore there is a risk that we lose sight of this coordination process. If something doesn’t fit, we don’t know exactly if the problem is with the ski, the boot or the athlete.”

The most recent training sessions are encouraging

Kristoffersen has been particularly fast in Adelboden in the past: in Chuenisbärgli, the brilliant technician has achieved two victories and a further nine podium finishes in the past ten years. And the latest training sessions on the Austrian Reiteralm have given the Kristoffersen clan the hope that Kristoffersen can once again play an important role on the most selective giant track in the world this year.

“Henrik has skied better in recent days than in Alta Badia,” coach Roten emphasizes. Has Kristoffersen finally found the ideal match between Hirscher skis and boots? We should get a first answer on Saturday morning in the first giant slalom round in Adelboden.

Source : Blick