Heidi Zacher stops: "Thank you, it was nice"

Created: 01/26/2022, 07:48

The end of a successful sports career: ski crosser Heidi Zacher competed in five world championships and two Olympic Games.

She completed 95 World Cup races and was first six times.

© klaus listl

The Lenggrieser ski crosser Heidi Zacher ended her successful international career at the age of 33.

Lenggries – The Lenggries ski club is primarily associated with the great successes of alpine aces.

But with Heidi Zacher there was an active athlete for many years who drew attention to herself on a national and international level in the still comparatively young sport of ski cross.

On Monday, however, the 33-year-old officially ended her career.

Heidi Zacher stops: "Thank you, it was nice"

"This step is not easy for me, but it is time to end my career as a competitive athlete and to break new ground," said the Lenggrieserin.

It goes without saying that the Olympic Games in China were her last major goal.

But a training accident in Italy in September with a bicycle when she was hit by a car dashed all hopes.

“I tried everything to the end to be able to realize my dream again.

But unfortunately it wasn't to be," regrets Zacher.

"Unfortunately, the back pain resulting from the accident no longer allowed me to train at the level I need for ski cross."

In the meantime she is doing quite well again for "normal" life, but that's just not enough for top sporting performance: "The way I want to ski, my body just doesn't allow it anymore." If fear is involved, then so be it far too dangerous for you to lose your balance when jumping and fall.

"It doesn't make any sense anymore." In the course of her long career and after a number of serious injuries, she has learned to listen to her body's signals.

“That's why I'm hanging up my racing skis now.

Mainly because I would like to continue doing sports and also go skiing,” says the trained banking specialist.

Seventh place at the German Championships in giant slalom

Heidi Zacher has been on skis since a young age and of course initially attracted attention as an alpine racer at the local ski club. In January 2004, the then 15-year-old competed in FIS races for the first time. In January 2006 she won two international youth slaloms, which also earned her the title of Bavarian youth champion. In 2007 she still managed to place seventh at the German championships in giant slalom, but she did not achieve her international breakthrough – also handicapped by a long-term inflammation of the shinbone.

She finally came to ski cross more by accident and returned to the international stage here in autumn 2008 with a start in a European Cup race in Grasgehren in December. The first start in a World Cup race followed on January 5, 2009 in St. Johann in Tirol, where the Lenggrieserin finished 17th. In her third competition in Flaine, France, she finished tenth. With more top 20 finishes, Zacher quickly established herself in World Cup cyclocross and was called up for the 2009 World Championships despite not even having made the national squad the previous fall. In the World Championship race in Inawashiro/Japan she then finished 16th. With two 14th places, she qualified for the Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, in the winter of 2009/10, where she finished 20th.

Favorite track: Four wins in San Candido

It was not least thanks to Heidi Zacher's successes that the Haunold, the local mountain in South Tyrol's Innichen in the Hoch-Pustertal, was described by the route announcer as the "Mountain of the Germans". There she was in December 2010 for the first time on the podium of a World Cup race in the ski cross discipline. The Isarwinkler raced to first place there a total of four times. However, she celebrated her first World Cup victory on January 7, 2011 in St. Johann in Tyrol – as the first German ever. Thanks to two more podium finishes, she even led the World Cup discipline rankings for several weeks, but had to be overtaken by Anna Holmlund in the penultimate race. A nasty fall in the final in St. Johann brought her to the end of the 2011/12 season.After the broken lower leg had healed, a rather mixed season followed. At the 2013 World Championships in Myrkdalen-Voss, Norway, she only managed twelfth place. It was again in San Candido where a third place finish in December 2013 saw her qualify for the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, where she ultimately finished 18th after a mixed performance.

Torn cruciate ligament two weeks before the Olympics

One of the biggest disappointments and at the same time one of her greatest successes is what Heidi Zacher associates with the Swedish competition venue Idre Fjälls.

Two weeks before the planned departure for the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, she was caught in a gust of wind during training – she fell and tore her cruciate ligament.

Almost exactly a year later, her "rematch" followed at the track when she won one of her first World Cups after recovering from an injury.

Of course, a ski crosser would have imagined the end of her career a little differently.

It was early 2020 that she slipped and broke her ankle while training on the Reiteralm/Styria.

With that, the winter of 2019/20 was over for her.

Due to corona, she then suspended the 2020/21 season.

In addition to sport, professional training is promoted

“Then I gave my body a lot of time to get back into shape.

But unfortunately he doesn't want to do what I want anymore," says the 33-year-old.

In terms of fitness, she was on the right track and had already completed the first days of snow before the tragic bicycle accident happened in Italy.

"Now it has definitely paid off that I have pursued my profession parallel to ski racing," says Heidi Zacher.

After completing her training as a bank clerk, she did a degree in business administration and ultimately also a master’s degree while working.

“Somewhere it was a privilege for me to be able to do two things at the same time at the top level.

After all, I played in the highest league in sport for years.” She still describes ski cross as an extremely “cool sport,

because otherwise I would have done a lot wrong over the many years".

So the Lenggrieserin looks back on her impressive career with a big smile: "Thank you, it was nice."

Before the 2014 Olympic Games, Heidi Zacher presented herself in black, red and gold. © Ewald Scheitterer

Brave through the course: After an accident, Heidi Zacher can no longer train fully.

© Ewald Scheitterer