article by Nicholas Pucci
Alpine skiing often reserves sensational surprisesbe it World Cup, Olympic or World Cup competitions. Take for example the 1999 Morioka World Championship3, in that Japan which at the 1972 Sapporo Games gave Francisco Fernandez Ochoa one of the most unexpected showcases in the entire winter history of the five-circle event.
Morioka, in honor of the vero, it does not represent a pleasant memory for the blue colors, Alberto Tomba in particular, who don’t even collect a medal, with the Bolognese champion, crippled by the flu, forced to give up the giant slalom and out of the race in the first heat of the slalom. And even if the Swiss Paul Accola, who in the past season put the crystal ball on his bulletin board by beating the “bomba” in the general classification of the World Cup, fails miserably, that’s it the world appointment reserves the stage for protagonists who are not exactly among the most accredited. Between these, the Swiss downhill racer Urs Lehmannwhose deeds we will tell today, more than any other.
Born in Rudolfstetten-Friedlisberg, a municipality in the canton of Aargau, on 1 April 1969, undoubtedly Lehmann has the idea of playing tricks on his rivals right in his blood. Like at the Hemsedal Junior World Championships in 1987, when he imposed himself in the downhill, beating by only 8 cents that Tommy Moe who in Lillehammer, in 1994, will be the Olympic champion in the downhill and silver medal in the super-G.
Once he infiltrated the World Cup circuit, however, Lehmann found it difficult to replicate results of a certain level, obtaining fourth place on the Saslong di Val Gardena on 11 December 1992 as his best result., coincidentally in the year in which the calendar schedules the World Cup. And if the Swiss, excellent in pure sliding sections, has greater hesitations when the curves get difficult, here in Morioka, on a track, the “Takakura“, which seems perfect for its technical characteristics, he really plays no small joke on his colleagues who were more expected than him in the fight for medals.
Marc Girardelli and Kjetil André Aamodt are starting a beautiful duel for the crystal ball, which at the end of the year will reward the Luxembourger, 1379 points against 1347, but the queen of alpine skiing disciplines, the downhill, speaks Swiss, with Franz Heinzer who imposed himself in Garmisch on January 10th, in St.Anton on January 16th and in Veysonnaz on January 23rd, the last race before the World Championships. And he is Morioka’s big favoritewith the two compatriots William Besse and Daniel Mahrer, who in turn triumphed respectively in Val Gardena and in the second descent of Garmisch, as very valid alternatives, with home-Austria betting on Patrick OrtliebOlympic champion in Albertville in 1992, while the “vecchio” Leonhard Stock, winner of the second descent in Val Gardena and also with an Olympic gold medal around his neck, the equally surprising one in Lake Placid 1980 . Italy, with Kristian Ghedina certainly not in top form, plays some interesting cards with Pietro Vitalini, second in Garmisch, and Peter Runggaldier, beaten by Heinzer in St.Antonwith Norway instead entrusting its chances to Atle Skaardal and Jan Einar Thorsen.
11 February 1993, 9.00 local time. The first to launch from the starting gate is the Frenchman Denis Rey, who with a time of 1’33″20 will then be sixth in the standings. And if shortly after, with bib number 3, the other transalpine Luc Alphandone who in the near future will win not only the World Cup in 1997 but also the downhill cup three times, revealing himself to be a speed dragon, he improves the chrono to 1’32″99, which will earn him the fourth place in the finalthe gray sky and not exactly optimal visibility deny Ghedina (13th), Gunther Mader (17th), Mahrer (19th) and Besse (23rd) the possibility of performing at their best, which instead perfectly succeeds Skaardal, bib number 9, who leaps to the lead in 1’32″66, and the American AJKitt, bib number 11, who is provisionally second in 1’32″98.
E when also Franz Heinzerwinner of the specialty cup in the last two seasons (and in 1993 there will be three) and expected to star in the performance, shipwrecked, with his beautiful bib number 15, in tenth place with a test certainly not equal to his talent and with a gap of 85 cents, the Norwegian, winner in Kitzbhuel in 1990 and already four times the best of all in the World Cup, seems well on his way to putting the world championship gold medal around his neck. Ma…
… ma with bib number 20when the really unkind weather of these Japanese days, which even forces the cancellation of the supergiant competition, lets a very pale ray of sunshine filter in the final part, here, as if by magic, the snow under the skis becomes smoother and Urs Lehmann has the honor of going down to the valley. And the Swiss he does it with such and such skill that already the advantage in the intermediate, 60 cents, makes Skaardal’s throne waver, as punctually confirmed by the time on the finish line, 1’32 “16, which projects Lehmann on the roof of the world.
It is true, “fortune favors the bold“, and indeed, that day in Morioka 1993, Urs Lehmann had both, transforming himself from “charcuterie” of alpine skiing to world hero. Tell me, if this is not a surprise, when ever…?