Starnberg World Cup skier Kira Weidle used the summer to prepare for the winter season. An exact schedule is still uncertain.
- Skier Kira Weidle kept fit around her home in Starnberg in the summer
- Your plans for the Alpine World Cup are still extremely unclear
- Weidle is still setting high goals - and will certainly have to forego a highlight race
Starnberg - Anyone who has been on the road or away on forest paths around Lake Starnberg in summer may have seen Kira Weidle in a completely different role than usual at this time of the year. The 24-year-old skier from the German national team was not running around the Maisinger See as she usually did during the break from the Alpine World Cup circus.
Kira Weidle in summer: cycling instead of running at the Maisinger See
In this special year of the corona pandemic, the 2018 Olympic participant let her two-year-old brother Luis persuade her to do something different. “We rode a lot of bicycles, which I usually didn't do that often. Yoga was also a cool balance for me, ”reveals Kira Weidle.
Summer 2020 was very special for the Starnberg-born woman after the pre-season, which was canceled in March due to corona. Weidle completed part of her Bundeswehr training at the end of May. As usual, the season preparation for the coming winter followed.
Kira Weidle reveals: "Has never been better physically"
Due to the uncertainty of the start of the season - the first overseas races have already been canceled and an exact schedule has not yet been fixed - the downhill specialist had to get in shape without a clear start date in mind. “The preparation was a little different,” says the SC Starnberg athlete. The training, which has been changed by health protection conditions and is unfamiliar in some units, certainly did not damage her physically. But on the contrary. Weidle: “I've never been in better physical shape than now. I am highly motivated for the next winter. "
The 24-year-old is slowly wondering how things will actually go on, like the entire professional skiing sector. “Everything is very uncertain at the moment. I think that some things will only be decided at short notice from December on, ”Weidle speculates.
Bitter news for Weidle: Favorite race in Lake Louise canceled
It is particularly bitter for them that the races in the USA and Canada have been canceled. This also includes the descent from Lake Louise, where she once achieved one of her two World Cup podium places (the other in Garmisch-Partenkirchen). “Lake Louise is one of my favorite races. It's a shame that it fails, ”says Weidle.
In addition to the open starting time of the 2020/21 season, the question of how to carry it out arises. World Cups without spectators cannot be ruled out in view of the currently increasing number of corona infections. For Weidle, this scenario is not that tragic from a purely sporting point of view. “You know that from training runs and also from some World Cups where there aren't as many spectators on site as, for example, in Garmisch, where the fans in the finish area make a lot of noise,” says the speed specialist. "You hardly notice the spectators during the race anyway."
Kira Weidle's goals: Regularly in the top ten and once on the podium
From an economic point of view, however, the corona crisis is having an impact on the winter sports industry. “With the sponsors you could already tell that one or the other had tightened their belts,” Weidle explains. She herself bridged the difficult time financially quite well and can now look forward with optimism.
In terms of sport, the Starnberg woman should continue to go uphill. Although the discontinued season was not quite as successful compared to winter 2018/19, when she had achieved her only two podium places so far, she still achieved four top eight placements in her favorite downhill discipline. Weidle is correspondingly self-confident. Her goal: "I want to consistently be in the top ten and get a podium again." After all, all the cycling in Starnberg should not have been in vain.
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