Four years after the horror fall, he is back in the place of horror: Marco Kohler’s career almost ended in Wengen

Marcel W. Perren And Benjamin Soland

Although Marco Kohler (26) lost more than six seconds to the best time of his friend Marco Odermatt (26) during the first training for the Lauberhorn descent, some Swiss Ski representatives raised their arms in celebration after the Bernese Oberlander crossed the finish line came. And rightly so, because with this trip the man from Meiringen has overcome an almost four-year-old trauma.

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Flashback: On January 14, 2020, Kohler starts the Lauberhorn training as lead rider and flies off target S in a terrible way. The devastating diagnosis: Not only the cruciate ligament of the left knee, but also the patellar tendon and the inner ligament were torn. At this time, his doctor does not believe Kohler will ever return to the ski circuit.

Shock at the Brüggli-S

Kohler impressively proves the opposite. The 26-year-old has already achieved two top 10 places this World Cup winter (8th in Val Gardena, 10th in Bormio). But these top results fade into the background as he returns to the place where his career almost ended. “I actually felt good before the start of this training, but because so many people asked me about the crash in 2020, this incident was of course on my mind. But now I can finally put the whole thing aside. And that’s why it was one of the most important days of my career.”

When he looks back up at the scene of the accident from the finish, Kohler shakes his head: “After this training ride, I cannot explain how I fell so badly, because this route is not that difficult to ride. “

This time too, Kohler causes a Lauberhorn shock: “The timing was not right with the Brüggli-S. I was too early in my swing and almost ended up in the target.” And gate threaders usually have disastrous consequences on the descent. Fortunately not this time.