Maximilian Schwarz is going through a change and feels pressure
Created: 06/01/2023, 19:00
By: Andreas Mayr
From technician to speed driver: Because of the great competition in slalom and giant slalom, Maximilian Schwarz will mainly compete in downhill and super-G in the future.
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Ski racer Maximilian Schwarz has a crucial season to complete: The Hohenpeissenberger needs good results to move up to the German B squad.
Hohenpeissenberg – The successes of the summer could be read off the scales.
She last showed 82.3 kilograms.
Almost four kilos more compared to the previous season.
Now Maximilian Schwarz, who recently turned 20, is not a bodybuilder but a skier.
"With ten kilos more you can no longer move on the skis," says the Hohenpeissenberger.
Four kilos of additional muscle mass is an ideal value.
For this he sat 1500 kilometers on the bike, enslaved his body twice a day from arms to legs.
"Definitely a tough summer," says Schwarz.
Skier Maximilian Schwarz is in his last junior year
And his first with the full workload of a professional.
In 2021 he had still completed his Abitur.
The strength tests in autumn ultimately confirmed the subjective impression: he cracked his best values in almost all categories and was often far ahead within the squad.
Now he can calmly concentrate on the winter.
Summer is good for nothing more and nothing less.
Maximilian Schwarz chooses a vivid comparison: "If your body is in perfect condition, you have turned a screw."
The next few months will decide his skiing career.
This is by no means exaggerated.
After each season, the German Ski Association (DSV) evaluates its squad athletes.
And because Schwarz's last junior year is approaching, the performances have to fit.
A good result is expected from him at his last Junior World Championships (JWM), which will be held in St. Anton am Arlberg from January 17th to 25th.
"I can secure my status with a medal," says the Hohenpeissenberger.
Maximilian Schwarz is hoping for a good World Cup result
The trainers give him the greatest chances in the speed area.
The technician has become a racer.
There was no other way.
The competition in slalom and giant slalom is just too big, the starting fields are jam-packed.
Success is difficult to plan.
"It's unlikely to get in there at the front," says Schwarz.
That's why the trainers are currently drilling him into a speed driver.
The start was at the end of November in Val Gardena.
An FIS downhill race was on the program, Schwarz finished 28th. A day later it went much better in the Super-G with 15th place.
Maximilian Schwarz: From technician to speed driver
But there was a problem: the mild autumn caused bottlenecks in the ski areas.
The annual Scandinavian tour was canceled simply because the few kilometers of pistes were reserved for the World Cup teams.
Longer turns are only possible in Central Europe or America, and even there umpteen teams fight over the racetracks.
At the last camp with the European Cup squad, Maximilian Schwarz drove the best time in the Super-G on one day and was only 0.6 seconds behind World Cup driver Victor Muffat-Jeandet from France on another run.
Basically, Maximilian Schwarz only had one month to collect as many speed kilometers as possible, to get to know and save as many routes as possible for the future.
The JWM starts unusually early this time, already in mid-January on the Arlberg.
Schwarz says he already feels "a lot of pressure"
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Not all coaches are enthusiastic about this radical course, they still see a technician in black.
He proved that again recently.
The C squad held a small team competition in a ski hall in France.
Entry fee three euros per man.
Maxi Schwarz pocketed the 30 euros.
"It was really tight," says the athlete from DAV Peißenberg.
For the time after the JWM, the coaches intensify the races in slalom and giant slalom.
So it is planned to work further up the world rankings alone.
Shortly before Christmas things went really well for the Hohenpeissenberger on the Reiteralm near Pichl (Schladming municipality) in two FIS Super-G races.
A fifth place in the first competition was followed by victory in the second.
In Super-G he is already around 180th in the world rankings,
