Pat Burgener celebrates his halfpipe comeback in Laax: “I didn’t know if I would come back”

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It has been exactly two years since Pat Burgener (29) last raced through the halfpipe at a World Championship. These two years were an emotional roller coaster for the all-rounder. He has experienced everything from dark, depressive phases to absolute euphoria. Now he returns to the pipe in Laax – with just three days of preparation! “It’s unbelievably amazing! To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would ever ride a pipe again,” says a cheerful Burgener after a stormy training session on top of the Crap Sogn Gion.

The Lausanne native seems relaxed, even though his big competitive comeback is just around the corner. “The nervousness is limited because I have no expectations,” he explains. While the rest of the starting field has been training on the snow since October, Burgener only started training in the pipe in Laax. “In three days I overtook everything that took the others three months,” says the halfpipe professional jokingly. “I used all my tricks in two days, it’s really incredible. Mentally I feel great, I’m really enjoying it at the moment.” There’s a lot of work behind it. «Every day I went to sleep at 10 a.m. Yoga every morning, training in the morning, training in the afternoon, it was intense.” Now the effort is paying off.

Inexplicable pain

Just a year ago, the situation in Romand looked completely different. After the Olympics, Burgener focused on his musical career, releasing songs, playing concerts and festivals. An intense time – in retrospect perhaps a bit too intense: “I hardly had time to train.” When he wanted to go back into the snow, his knee started to hurt. Nothing new actually. He has already torn his ACL twice.

But this time there was no diagnosis. “No doctor could tell me what was wrong. I was in constant pain for a year and a half.” Sitting quietly at home and letting the knee heal was out of the question for Burger. ‘I can’t sit still. That’s why I started making videos during this period.” His video of himself snowboarding through an entire hotel went viral.

Full throttle in the competition

With these videos, Burgener has developed a third pillar in addition to competitions and his music career, which is financially more lucrative than participating in the World Cup. But he can’t keep his hands off matches. He is a competitive man. Even though he has no expectations, the two-time Olympian wants to put together a perfect run in his comeback at the Laax Open on Friday. “If I reach the final it would probably be the best thing I’ve ever achieved.”

Source : Blick