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Alexander Schmid after his trip to World Championship gold
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Alex Pantling/Getty Images
Alexander Schmid is not a man of big words.
No one who throws pithy declarations of war around or says a casual joke into the cameras like Felix Neureuther once did.
Instead, Schmid always seems a little tense when he has to speak into a microphone.
Shortly before the Alpine World Ski Championships, he was a guest on an Instagram live broadcast by Bayerischer Rundfunk.
He was asked all sorts of questions, including his goal at the World Cup.
"I want to show my best skiing," said Schmid, meaningless.
Schmid's teammate Linus Straßer, who was among the spectators, did not let his buddy get away so easily and commented: "Gold".
Schmid laughed and then said: "Of course, the goal is always gold."
Did Schmid actually believe in it at the time?
It didn't seem like it.
But now he has actually won gold.
In the parallel race he defeated the Austrian Dominik Raschner in the final and threw his arms up at the finish.
Then Straßer, who was eliminated early, came running and hugged Schmid.
For the German Ski Association (DSV) it is the first world championship title in ten years, at that time Maria Höfl-Riesch struck in the combination.
The men waited even longer.
Hansjörg Tauscher won the downhill in Vail in 1989.
Since?
A few bright spots, but mostly bankruptcies, bad luck and breakdowns.
The DSV team also disappointed at this World Cup.
The fact that Schmid of all people ended the misery is a punchline that few had expected.
DSV sports director Wolfgang Maier recently stated that the team "misses the killer".
And the 28-year-old man from the Allgäu is many things, but not a »killer«.
In fact, Schmid has been a reliable giant slalom skier so far.
One who is always good for a top 10 place, but who often fell a long way short of the very best.
And this despite the fact that as a teenager he had already demonstrated the talent that slumbered within him.
He emulated his older brother Manuel (who is on the DSV downhill team but missed the World Cup injured) and was once second in the world junior rankings.
Behind Henrik Kristoffersen.
Schmid was repeatedly injured
While Kristoffersen started a great career, has now accumulated 30 World Cup victories and has become a star of the scene through his duels with Marcel Hirscher, Schmid's career stagnated.
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Often out of necessity.
Schmid broke his fibula and inflamed his quadriceps tendon.
In the 2019/2020 season he regularly ran out of strength because the Epstein-Barr virus had taken root in his body.
Again and again he misses races because of various infections.
When Schmid was fit and able to train for several months at a time, he immediately showed spotless driving again.
He is regarded as one of the finest skiers in the field, gliding smoothly over the iciest slopes in the World Cup.
So far he has only made it onto the podium once.
At the DSV, they already had doubts as to whether Schmid would do anything.
Maybe he's just a little too nice to take on the big ones.
Schmid has now dispelled these concerns.
In the parallel race, he won his duels with ease.
On the short distance he can play to his strengths as an explosive starter and a calm driver.
In 2021 at the World Championships premiere of the event, he narrowly missed the podium in fourth place, but took bronze with the team.
In Beijing at the Olympic Games he even raced to second place with the team.
Now Schmid could be the second and last world champion in this individual parallel race.
Fis General Secretary Michel Vion said on RTS on Monday: "We will give up the parallel races."
The competitions were hoisted into the program to inspire the young audience.
Short-lived duels instead of minute-long shots should make skiing more attractive.
And the plan worked in a way.
The grandstand in Méribel was better filled for the parallel events than, for example, for the women's Super-G.
The athletes are skeptical about parallel races
But for many athletes, the races on moderately steep gradients enjoy only limited appreciation.
The biggest stars Marco Odermatt and Mikaela Shiffrin gave up.
A medal in one of the traditional disciplines is more important to them.
Especially since the parallel events bring stress.
The athletes had to qualify for the individual race on Tuesday evening a few hours after the end of the team event.
"Totally stupid," German head coach Christian Schwaiger called this plan.
That didn't cloud Schmid's joy on Wednesday.
"I'm proud and I've enjoyed it immensely," he said.
"Germany finally has a medal."
Schmid wants to take this tailwind with him.
In giant slalom he is one of the medal candidates, and he has also improved in slalom this season.
Even if things didn't go quite as quickly as hoped.
Schmid was recently ill again.
"I was completely flat over Christmas," he said.
Nevertheless, he feels "well prepared", which he proved on Wednesday.
Schmid still has 30 fewer World Cup victories than his youth rival Kristoffersen.
At least after world championship titles, he has now drawn level with the Norwegian, who won gold in giant slalom in 2019.
The truth is that Kristoffersen skipped the parallel race on Wednesday.