2023-04-19 15:04:00
When Christian Hoffmann competed in a cross-country skiing cup in Schöneben for the first time in December 1988, the then 14-year-old probably wouldn’t have expected the kind of career he would have.
Around five years later, the athlete from Aigen im Mühlkreis in der Tauplitz found himself in a World Cup race for the first time and only just missed out on the top 30 at his premiere.
Hoffmann celebrated his greatest individual successes with the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Nagano in 1998 and Olympic gold in Salt Lake City in 2002.
“But my personal highlight was the relay gold medal at the 1999 World Championships in Ramsau. Winning at home in front of the many fans in this incredible atmosphere was the greatest thing for all of us and an indescribable moment in my career,” the 48-year-old looks back.
Numerous other World Cup victories and podium places followed until 2009, before Hoffmann hung the narrow (World Cup) boards on the wall and discovered a new passion in ski mountaineering.
In 2013, Hoffmann immediately won the most well-known ski touring race in Austria, the Mountain Attack in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, and incidentally set a new track record.
Hoffmann joined the national team of ski mountaineers almost at the same time as Daniel Zugg from Vorarlberg, who remembers: “I wasn’t even born when Christian was already running in the World Cup and of course he was a role model for all of us in the team. Personally, I was always impressed by his extraordinary discipline, his consistency in training and his special team spirit.”
In the Ski Mountaineering World Cup, Hoffmann collected further top placings and can thus boast a total of 26 podium finishes in his career.
For the sporting director of the ski mountaineering division in the ÖSV, Georg Worter, Christian Hoffmann was not only an important part of the team: “He was happy to pass on the special knowledge and years of racing experience that Christian had acquired to all his colleagues and supported them , wherever he could. We therefore owe him a great debt of gratitude. He strengthened, motivated and, to a certain extent, also inspired us in many areas.”
In addition to his irrepressible will to constantly improve and to go to his limits, Hoffmann sees the team structure, loyalty and a positive private environment as decisive factors for his success: “It starts in adolescence, where it depends on people you trust like trainers and supervisors , to give you the passion on your way. In addition, the atmosphere in the team is very important, after all, as athletes you spend practically the whole year together. And, of course, family and friends play a crucial role in freeing one’s head from competitive sports and finding one’s anchor.”
Muehlviertel The ski mountaineering World Cup finals in Tromsø, Norway, last week also marked the last act in Christian Hoffmann’s World Cup career. “The decision was already made during the preparations in autumn and I had the entire season to adjust to it,” explains the 48-year-old, who was able to prove his class once again with 9th place in the last vertical race of the winter .
“The top 10 place at the World Cup final was a nice final chord, but it didn’t change anything about my decision.” Hoffmann will stay with the sport. On the one hand in the development department of his ski brand Fischer, to which he remained loyal all his life. On the other hand as an active participant in the Grand Course races in winter, as well as new projects such as the Crocodile Trophy in Australia or the ascent of Fujiyama.
Anyone who knows Christian Hoffmann knows that he still has a lot of ideas, or as he puts it himself: “You never stop learning. For me, the most important thing in life was always to be open to new things and to keep the passion for it,” he says.
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