Third World Cup victory three weeks after the low point: Giger hypnotist solved Hintermann’s button

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Garmisch-Partenkirchen three weeks ago: After the two Super-Gs on the Kandahar (30th place and withdrawal), Niels Hintermann is at the moral low point in his World Cup career. «I had a very good preparation for the season. But since the training rides in Beaver Creek I haven’t really been able to pick up riding again. At this point I really have no idea what to do next,” the Zurich resident admits over dinner at the Fraundorfer restaurant. Hintermann orders a 500 gram Cordon Bleu and says “it would probably be best for me if I took advantage of the cancellation of the speed races in Chamonix to play golf in Mallorca.”

But friend Lara and mother Sonja have a different idea about how their beloved Niels can get back on track: “They recommended therapy with sports hypnotist Adrian Brüngger as a supplement to my work with my mental trainer. Fortunately, I followed her advice. Brüngger’s hypnosis combined with classical mental training were able to solve a major problem in my brain. »

The biography of overshooter Samuel Giger also proves that former handball coach Brüngger (Pfadi Winterthur) is a top-class hypnotherapist. The Thurgauer stumbled over his nerves several times on federal occasions. But almost a year after the first hypnosis therapy with Brüngger, Giger confidently triumphed over the Unspunnen.

“The ride didn’t feel good at first.”

The fact that the 28-year-old Hintermann has actually made gigantic progress in a short time thanks to his ‘plumber’ is demonstrated during the descent in Kvitfjell – Hintermann celebrates his third World Cup victory on the 1994 Olympic track. The Bülach resident also celebrated his first downhill victory at the “Olympiabakken” in Norway.

“But unlike the victory two years ago, this ride didn’t feel so good, especially in the upper part of the course. That’s why I couldn’t believe it when the green light flashed behind my name on the scoreboard at the finish. It’s just great. I am not only happy for myself, I am also happy for all the people who helped me enormously in this difficult phase.” Marco Odermatt also had a lot of fun with the victory behind him. “Niels has been grossly underestimated in recent months, so I especially want to wish him this success.”

A fifth place in the final descent was enough for Odermatt

Odermatt himself missed the podium for the second time in the eighth downhill of this World Cup season – the man from Nidwalden finished the race in seventh place, just like in Val Gardena. Yet the world champion is taking a significant step towards the downhill ball. After losing to Kitzbühel winner Cyprien Sarrazin, who injured his left calf during final training, the superstar from Lake Lucerne is 42 points ahead of the Frenchman in the downhill standings for the final race.

In plain language this means: if Sarrazin were to win the final descent in Saalbach, Odermatt would be satisfied with fifth place for the ball. The question also arises whether Sarrazin will be fit at all on March 24. “I had contact with Cyprien on Friday evening,” Odermatt reveals. “If I understood him correctly, one doctor has confidence in Saalbach, another doctor is sceptical. I assume that Cyprien will be fit by then. And because I trust that he can win with one and a half legs, I’m not too worried about this downhill ball yet.”

Vincent Kriechmayr, who finished second and achieved the first podium finish for Austrian downhillers this winter, expressed a special thought. “Maybe now that I have finally been able to beat the great Odermatt again, it would be the perfect time to end my career.” After a brief pause for thought, the 32-year-old two-time world champion from 2021 makes it clear that he wants to go full throttle in the coming World Cup season.

Source : Blick