It is made of a different metal than the skiers.
A metal which, visibly, has shades close to gold.
This Tuesday in Beijing, Matthias Mayer achieved the feat of retaining his Olympic Super-G title, four years after his victory in Pyeonchang.
In 2014, the Austrian had already won gold in downhill.
In China, he therefore entered the history of his sport: before him, no one had ever managed to obtain three crowns in a row at the Games in alpine skiing.
🥇 2018
🥇 2022
And to think that he almost lost everything at the start... but Mayer did end up achieving the double!
What a race, what a champion đź‘Ź Vibrate
in front of #Beijing2022 on Eurosport with #ChaletClub pic.twitter.com/0wiAuPQS2U
– Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) February 8, 2022
Everything almost came to an end in the saddest of ways for him, even before the start.
In a hurry to fight, Mayer went to nothing of a false start, which would have cost him to lose ten seconds and see his Olympic dream fly away.
More fear than harm: the gate did not trigger and it then unrolled to get a historic victory, in front of the surprise American Ryan Cochran-Sigle and the big favorite and leader of the World Cup, the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.
Respect for his peers
“I had a problem with my stick, he explained on arrival.
He was stuck and I had to push him.
It was a bit of a nervous start, but after the first gate, I couldn't remember.
The son of Helmut Mayer, Olympic medalist in 1988 on his offspring's favorite distance, has been writing his own legend for several years.
Without necessarily being the most consistent over the course of a season, it is always present in the big events, as evidenced by its bronze medal in the downhill on Monday.
“It's amazing to be able to do what he does every time on the days that matter.
I don't think about history, ”he said after his new title.
A modesty that contrasted with the compliments of his opponents, dithyrambics when complimenting the winner of the day.
“It's incredible what he accomplishes and what he has done in his career, explained for example the Italian Christof Innerhofer.
All you can do is watch with envy how good he is on skis at big events.
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