22. July 2021
Swiss Championship Leysin – Nasty crash
It was time for my first downhill Swiss Championship. I was really looking forward to this slippery and technical track. I was ready, ready to show what I can, ready to give my best. But everything went different than expected.
After the first two training runs on Friday I crashed. And no, I didn’t crash on the race track. I crashed on the gravel path, that leads from the chairlift top station to the start of the race track. I slipped away in a gravel corner and collided with my right hand on some stones. It hurt quite a lot and I wasn’t able to hold my handlebar anymore. So, this day has definitely been over for me. On Saturday my hand still hurt and turned blue. I did these two obligatory training runs and went to the hospital after. They couldn’t really help me because there was nothing broken, luckily. In the afternoon it was time for the seeding run. I started but left the race course after a few meters to protect my hand. On Sunday it was time for the final run, the Swiss Championship. I definitely wanted to start and to race, although I didn’t train a lot on the race course and my hand still hurt. I felt every single bump. On my race run i rode more or less clean with a time of 05:05min. I was pretty happy with how I rode. It was long, it was physically exhausting, the race course has been technical. I had to concentrate a lot on holding my handlebar. It wasn’t easy to focus on the race course. I was happy reaching the finish line in one piece and without a crash. But once I saw the result and my time I got really really disappointed. I was seventh of seven participants. I took the last place on my first dh Swiss Championship. I was angry on myself. The past weeks I took as little risks as possible to minimize to risk of an injury. And what happened: I slipped away in a f*cking gravel corner. Now it is time to let this behind me and focus on the next race. I am now on the way to the iXS Downhill Cup race in Pila. I am so glad that my hand finally is feeling better. I am looking forward the race track and to a great race weekend.