Sara Hector: “It would be boring if I didn’t learn something new”

Last season was a “gap year” with no WC or Olympics. But for Sara Hector, this was the best season of her World Cup career overall.

The Swedish alpine star finished fourth overall and also set a personal sixth in the cup slalom, after taking the first podium of his career in his “second discipline”. In the giant slalom march, the discipline in which she won Olympic gold in 2022, there were only two better skippers in the cup.

Now waiting according to tradition premiere of the world cup in giant slalom in Sölden (Austria) this weekend.

The star arrives there after a pre-season that included a long camp in Ushuaia at the tip of South America.

There she has tried to find keys to get rid of her Achilles heel.

– In the giant slalom, I had problems with soft ground, said Hector.

– To improve there, I think there are certain parts of my skating that I need to change. So much of it is timing, so now I’ve been working on that in the pre-season.

You can believe it is who has been competing in the World Cup for 15 years – and is also the reigning Olympic champion – would choose to run on proven concepts. But already last year ask Hector about his method related to the change of coach, so this year it is more details that have been studied and changed.

Sara Hector places mobile phones and coffee cups like a giant slalom course above the conference table in the office next to Hammarbybacken in Stockholm, where DN meets her before the winter season.

– I think I can be something good on the tracks, she says and shows different types of efforts with one hand through the “track”.

– It’s about when to bend the skis.

– Do you have a lot hard surface you can go in and bend the skis very quickly and the radius will be much smaller. Then you can walk a straighter line towards the next stick. But if it’s soft and you’re bending the skis really fast, the snow won’t hold up, so you’re tearing into place, and that’s also what I’ve had a problem with, like example, the World Cup final last spring and during this year’s WC. before. So it’s about finding that time. Small margins make a big difference.

How important is it to feel that you are still learning and that you can improve?

– Otherwise, I would think it was boring! If I don’t, Hector shouts.

– Last year, when we got a new coach (the Italian Walter Girardi), there were a thousand new things, which I thought were very fun. I don’t always master everything, but I’ve got some really good “input” that I’m working with now.

You had the best season of your entire World Cup career. Can you say last year was a rebirth?

– It (the technical change) was very exciting, I must say, and I feel it still is. It’s a pleasure to work with coaches I like but I also had a great time with Pierre (Miniotti’s former coach), he was very sad when he left and I never thought he could be as good as it was with Walter.

In the giant slalom Sara took Hector four podiums, including one victory last season. But in the World Cup final this spring, on soft ground in the next WC Saalbach center in Austria, she was “only” in twelfth place. And in WC 2023, where it was also soft, Hector finished a crass 13th.

Did this soft object become a ghost?

– I wouldn’t say it’s a mental block, but if you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll never succeed. So somewhere you have to believe in yourself.

– My riding style is that I am very good at bending the skis quickly. One of my absolute strengths is that I am very often when you have to use a lot of force. So now working has been just as good even when it is for other reasons is an important part if you want to be involved and fight for, for example, a cup.

Is that the goal?

– No, that’s not the goal, but I dream about it, Hector responds in a normal way to the giant slalom skipper.

– I only work with goals that I can influence myself.

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Now waiting for three championship winters in a row. But he takes it one year at a time, says Hector, who is 32 years old.

What will be important mentally this year?

– Mainly to keep my focus, have fun, feel good and then work hard every day to be the best I can be. It’s just out and driving – learning new things every day while it lasts.

Read more:

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Sara Hector: “The situation has been stressful for cyclists”

Tough situation for alpine Sweden – skiers have to pay up to SEK 150,000 for a national team place