L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Louise Bain and Callum Henderson win both rounds of Twin Peaks races at Fir Park & Hillend ...

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

Mario Scheiber talks exclusively to Racer Ready:

There is a new kid on the block.  Another Super Mario, another speed merchant wearing the familiar yellow background with the hammers across it. This is not a new Hermann Maier but Mario Scheiber.  Big things are expected from the twenty three year old yet even he is surprised as to how things have gone this year.  Mario Scheiber spent all of last season injured having torn his cruciate ligament in GS training at the beginning of the 2005 - 6 season.  This was not the first time that he had been injured yet this time it was big, "it was the whole season!" Scheiber explained.  Injured also in 2001 and 2003, "I get injured every two years," he adds reflectively!  With three runners up spots and three third places to show for his world cup experiences to date: Scheiber is the man that Austria is pinning its hopes on for the future!

As we sit talking in the lobby of the Best Western Hotel in Wengen, it is apparent that the man from Jakob in Osttirol is looking to make up for lost time. It was hard watching the Olympics knowing that he had a chance of making the Austrian Team.  While the Overall Crystal Globe is important to him, he knows that if he is skiing well the wins will come so is not too concerned at the moment that he is still searching for his maiden win.  Asked if he would prefer to win Kitzbuehel or the Overall Crystal Globe, it is the Overall Crystal Globe that he wants to add to his trophy cabinet. "Kitzbuehel is like Monaco for the Formula 1 driver, it is the most magical race but I want to win the Globe." Having made his World Junior Championship debut at the the 2001 Verbier Championships, he finished 12th in the Slalom in a race won by German Stefan Kogler, by the time the 2003 Championships came around he had the Giant Slalom title in his cabinet. Yet within two years he would be spending the complete season out.

"It was a large job, the reconstruction and took six months of rehab to get me back to where I could ski again." From first putting skis back on, on July 10, to taking a double third in Bormio was a titanic struggle.  Skiing in Stillseejoch in Italy was painful and the therapy that he undertook to relieve the pain meant that the road back was not smooth. At first there were doubts in the head that he would be able to make it yet with the second in Lake Louise in November these doubts were gone.  "I knew I was back," Scheiber grinned!  Scheiber explained that while the head was good, it was the muscle that worried him and with the snow conditions not so good, this meant that the courses have been bumpy and very hard - all the more testing for the rebuilt knee! Bormio was the ultimate test and with the length of the Wengen course still to come, Scheiber feels that the injury is now past him.

As he sits talking, it is made clear that while he is currently doing four of the five events on the tour, all but the Slalom, it is the Downhill and Super G that hold the power to his future.  "I aim for top three, top five in the Downhill and Super G but the Giant Slalom is hard!" and this is after he finished 22nd in the last GS in Adelboden! "At the moment I am just thinking from race to race!" Scheiber is an accomplished Slalom skier as well yet such is the strength of the Austrian slalom team, he is sticking to the slalom only for the Super Combined.

Wengen is one of the Classic races and yet he has only raced here once, in 2005.  On that occasion he finished 25th yet wants more than that now.  Wengen is currently in a state of limbo as the weather and snow conditions are conspiring against the races happening.  These conditions are hard for the racers as they have to fill their time somehow.  Just prior to meeting Racer Ready, Scheiber had been out with a number of other members of the Austrian team including his roommate Mario Matt, for an hour and a half walking.  With a view to learning the course, Scheiber was asked whether he had played the Ski Challenge on his computer: "Yes," with a smile "but I race as Michi (Walchhofer). The real me will be quicker though!  I only play that on my computer and not on the net," he adds. When there is no racing it is frustrating for the racers and they have to look at ways to keep themselves occupied: "Going out was much more enjoyable and better than staying in bed!" Matt, Scheiber and Grugger excused themselves from media work to go for an hour and a half walk up the hills!

For the first training run, as one of the top 15 racers, Scheiber is allowed to pick his start number.  His coaches called out 16 for him yet he prefers to start early for the first run and then work backwards so that for race day when he starts in his World Cup starting position (at the moment 22 due to his eighth place in the WCSL list). By race day this racer will also have a large contingent of friends and family in town to cheer him on.  With Kitzbuehel on the horizon, a modest ten or so friends and family will make the trip to Wengen. By the time Kitzbuehel happens that number will have swollen to almost a hundred cheering him on.

While the phone goes and other athletes pop by, Scheiber is fast becoming a popular and respected member of the racing fraternity.  His two third places at Bormio in December ended a disappointing year for him on a real high, he admits.  "It was a great surprise, yet a relief for me." While he has recovered from injury, staying healthy is his number one concern.  Asked what his favourite track was, surprisingly he lists lots of tracks and states that while all the slopes have their own characteristics, it is the turns rather than the speed that interests him. Ultimately his favourite slope is "where I am quickest!"

10 January 2007, Wengen