Daniel Albrecht certainly lived one of his most emotional moment in his racing career last Sunday at Beaver Creek entering his first race since his horrific crash in January 2009 in a downhill training run at Kitzbuehel, Austria, that left him with life-threatening brain and lung injuries.
Wearing lucky bib 13, the 27-year-old Swiss achieved an amazing comeback on the treacherous ‘Birds of Prey’ run on which he had celebrated his very first win back in 2007 and received huge cheers and a standing ovation from the US crowd which has gathered around the arrival.
He had a huge smile on his face and pumped his fist as he crossed the line 677 days after finishing a strong 13th in the downhill at Wengen in January 2009..
“The run I made today had more value to me than my World Championship gold medal," Albrecht said afterwards, putting his comeback achievement ahead of his 2007 super combined gold medal clinched at Are, in Sweden.
“It was just great. I was very happy after the first run. I dreamt that it would go this way, but I didn't know for sure,” he added with a huge grin. “I was confident and not so nervous prior the first run, this time I slept well which was not the case last week at Lake Louise before the first training run. My goal today was to regain the feelings being a true racer again after spending so much time in rehab and training. I didn’t remember it – but it was truly exciting.”
I took it easy, I didn’t push hard at the start of the first run and I didn’t push so much in the second one. I didn’t dare to attack too much not to ski out. For sure I reached much more than I expected,” also revealed Albrecht, who had to be put into a medically induced coma for several weeks in Austria after his crash.
After waking up in February 2009, he fought through a long rehabilitation which including annoying exercises with psychologists and friends to recover part of his memory and forgotten emotions including feelings for members of his family.
17th in the opening leg only 1,75 seconds behind the leading Ted Ligety, Albrecht finished a solid 21st at the end of the competition not so far at all from top favorites as former giant slalom World Cup champion Didier Cuche who came in 11th . Carlo Janka, a three-time winner in Colorado last year, didn’t end the second run after an average first leg.
All his teammates, colleagues from the other teams and trainers were all impressed by his courage and his performance.
An amazing performance
“This is more than impressive, it’s truly amazing, what a comeback,” commented Swiss Ski President Urs Lehmann, who followed Albrecht’s return on TV from the press room at Lake Louise. “What a fighter. We all knew he was doing fine in training, but there is a huge difference between a practise run and a true race. He did way better than we all thought. It’s a true victory for our team and we are all very happy and proud of him.”
Before the accident, Albrecht won twice at Birds of Prey in 2007 with triumphs in the Super-combined and the GS. He was four wins on the tour including victories on the challenging courses at Soelden and Alta Badia.
Daniel Albrecht was a forerunner at the World Cup finals in March but Sunday marked his true return to racing after also forerunning a Nor-Am race last Monday at Aspen. Unfortunately he fell in the first run of that race.
Beaver Creek was the perfect place for a return as Albrecht won his first World Cup points there in 2004 before excelling again 2007. “I wanted to try it there because the slope fits me well and the timing was right,” he also explained. “I started to feel impatient about my comeback and I strongly needed to make that true test. Now we’ll see what’s next for me. The coming giant slalom races are organized on difficult slopes. For the moment I also feel a little tired and I’m looking forward to get some well deserved rest. Then I’ll discuss this with my trainers,” also commented the skier from Fiesch who impressed his staff in recent weeks with his determination and conviction.
Contributed by MMJL
