Madonna di Campiglio / Lenggries - Intense competition days await Lenggries ski mountaineer Tatjana Paller (25) at the World Cup finals in Madonna di Campiglio: She competes in all three disciplines and hopes to take part in the final heat in the sprint.
With the touring skis up Mount Everest twice in 24 hours?
At first glance, an impossible undertaking, and yet the ski mountaineer Martina Valmassoi managed this show of strength - at least if you add up the meters in altitude.
From Sunday to Monday, the 31-year-old Italian set this world record in Auronzo di Cadore on a groomed slope with 725 meters of altitude and 3.3 km of ascent: 17,645 meters of altitude, most of the altitude meters achieved by a woman in 24 hours on touring skis.
Three competitions in four days: Sprint, Vertical and Individual
It won't be that demanding for Tatjana Paller at the World Cup final for ski mountaineers in Madonna di Campiglio, but things really get down to business.
Because the 25-year-old Lenggrieserin is used by national coach Thomas Bösl in all three disciplines: Sprint, Vertical and Individual.
Paller has long since got over the disappointment of not being nominated for the World Cup in Andorra at the beginning of March.
Her top results, which would actually have justified a nomination - ninth place in the World Cup sprint in Martell Valley and ranks one (sprint) and two (vertical) at the Austrian state championships - will only be achieved after the deadline for the nomination for the World Cup.
“That's okay,” admits the Isarwinkler.
"In the meantime I have trained a lot on Brauneck and now I feel fresh for the final."
Paller is the "short, crisp"
Paller believes the best chance of another top ten result is in the sprint, the first of the three races.
“I like the short, the crisp.
You're so full of adrenaline that you hardly feel the exertion, ”explains the Lenggrieserin.
In this spectacular discipline, the athletes have to demonstrate all facets of ski mountaineering in six-person heats: ascents with skins under their skis;
Passages on which the skis are carried up to the rapid giant slalom down to the finish line - and in between the technically demanding transition areas.
A lap takes about four minutes, the two fastest move up to the next lap.
"Face to face with the competition", that is Tatjana Paller, "and in the carrying passages I still benefit from the strength in my thighs from cycling." Even if Paller leaves a second or two behind during the changes, she puts it completely unabashedly her ambitious goal: “I would like to improve my ninth place from the Martell valley again.
Sprinting into the final heat would be my big goal. "
The goal of the “Vertical” is to be in the top ten for the first time
In the other two disciplines, the ski mountaineer from Lenggries does not set the bar so high.
Nevertheless, she wants to get a taste of the top ten for the first time in the vertical race, which overcomes around 600 meters in altitude from Madonna to Monte Spinale.
There is still a lot of respect for the supreme discipline of the individual, with a total of three long, exhausting ascents and three descents.
“I'm still missing something in the technical alpine terrain with the switchbacks,” says Paller.
However, as a former alpine athlete of SC Lenggries, she can make up ground in the descent.
The races in Madonna
Thursday March 25th
10.00: Sprint / Fortini
Friday March 26th
16.15: Vertical / Mt.
Spinals
Sunday March 28th
9.45: Individual / month
Spinals
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On the last steep slope, Tatjana Paller really has to suffer at her World Cup premiere
