A year after his horrible crash near the finish line of the treacherous Streif downhill at Kitzbühel, Switzerland's Daniel Albrecht returned to the famous Austrian ski resort to meet the international press for the first time.
The former giant slalom World Champion wanted to inform about his health and his future goals and tell the media that he is not planning any comeback anymore this winter.
Generally speaking Albrecht is satisfied about his current form. This is what he had to say prior to meeting the press at Kitzbühel.
Daniel Albrecht: Much better than I ever could expect it. It's extremely enjoyable for me to have recovered so well after such a nasty accident.
Do you still have precise memories from that accident?
No. Everything has been deleted in my mind. In fact I can't really remember anymore who I really was before my accident.
Apparently, you watched you jump several times while in hospital, what did you feel at that point?
Nothing. I was not able to make any emotional connection between those pictures and myself. At that point I had the impression it was a Playmobil toy flying in the air.
You sustained several serious injuries including concussion, a serious compression of your lungs, bleedings in your brain and you had to be put in artificial coma. When did you start to recover your consciousness?
After three weeks of artificial coma. I finally woke up but at that stage I didn't know where I was or why I was there. I could not speak and I was unable to taste or smell any flavors. My parents needed to teach me something new every day, including the fact that I was their son. Three weeks later, I could start to reflect and talk yet my first question was "Who am I?"
You older procedural memory was still available. This means that you were able after a period of recovery to sort of download past information as well as some mental procedures and precise behaviours and habits such the capacity to ski. The episodic and semantic memory seemed by contrast to be blocked. What are the consequences for you?
For instance I totally forgot the names of animals. I was aware that a butterfly was flying in my room but the name of that insect didn't come up in my mind. Yet there are many more difficult consequences which are still going now - like my inability to feel any emotion. My parents were with me all the time. It was good for me to have them by my side but I was incapable of feeling anything such as love. I sometimes behaved like a kid and. without realizing it, I told them some very bad things.
What are your feelings now?
In the meantime things have improved and I can again feel emotions. Yet I don't know if they are stronger or weaker than in the past. That's the toughest and most upsetting part about amnesia - one never really knows where he stands. You cannot make any comparison with the past.
What have you done to improve your condition and be fit again?
To be honest I must say it has been pretty hard. Luckily I'm apparently not the kind of person who gives up at the first obstacle. I guess I was the same in my days as an athlete. At a certain point during my recovery in the hospital, I managed to find my way to the therapy room and walk up to the first floor to do some physical exercises. Then I asked for an exercise bicycle in my room. At the beginning it was really painful and sad. The entire hospital staff surrounded me sometimes and had a hard time believing what they were seeing. To produce 110 watt is easy for any athlete but I was fighting extremely hard just to reach 30 watt.
You aim at competing again on the World Cup tour and get your former life back - isn't it a bit risky?
No. I see it as my own personal therapy to find my way back to myself. A few months ago, I was far from being a skier again. In the beginning I didn't really know how good I had been in the past! I was no longer aware of what kind of activity was being a ski racer. People were talking to me about my former career. I would listen to them in amazement. But it doesn't help to explain something at length to a patient having suffered from a serious head and brain trauma. You just forget everything the minute you hear it!
When did the racer awake in you?
After a while I started to ask a few questions and investigate my former life. Then it suddenly clicked in my head. I felt the urge and the desire to try to get back there as soon as possible. It was amazing. I think that something was still waiting there in my unconsciousness, a kind of an instinct. Fortunately my body sort of remembered how it worked. The technique which made me a champion in the old days was still there. Yet after a few seconds on the snow, I felt dizzy as if I had been driving too fast. Then things improved on my second run. I felt a very warm emotion going through me and I knew at that moment that I was doing everything right. I felt secure!
Your doctors are not so optimistic about your comeback chances. Are they more reasonable than you are?
I am not entirely sure myself whether this comeback is an illusion or not. I'm just trying hard. What would I have achieved so far without a goal? I don't want to give up.
You postponed your comeback several times so far. Don't you think you tried too hard?
It surely hurt me to see that even the strongest will was not enough to take me back at a good level after a few days of training on snow. There were times when I asked myself how I could have had such an idea to try again. It even seemed total nonsense. But a short while later, I had recovered all my courage. Now I'm confident about being back out there pretty soon.
What are your biggest problems?
I am struggling to precisely gauge my speed and my personal limits. I went through moments when I was totally mistaken on my real condition. Sometimes I could have sworn that I had been at my very best in a run yet at the finish line, I would find out that my performance and my time were absolutely terrible.
Why don't you give yourself more time?
My trainer is also asking me that same question sometimes. He would be happy to see me starting in a slower event like giant slalom. It would be far less dangerous than to start in a downhill he says. But I replied that I didn't want to only make smooth turns when I'm skiing - it's not my cup of tea.
Will you ever ski down the ‘Streif' again?
For sure. Either I manage to fully come back or I won't come back at all!
