Fabian Recher is a medal contender in Paris
Image: Keystone
Sandra Stöckli wants to take home a diploma from Paris
Image: Keystone
Fabian Recher is a medal contender in Paris
Image: Keystone
Sandra Stöckli wants to take home a diploma from Paris
Image: Keystone
While Fabian Recher and Benjamin Früh are dreaming of a Paralympic medal, Sandra Stöckli is aiming for a diploma in the upcoming hand cycling races.
When hand cyclists prepare for a competition, they usually go to the heights. It was no different for Sandra Stöckli. The St. Gallen native recently spent four weeks in Kühtai, Austria, even setting up a gym on the alp and often training at over 2000 meters.
Altitude training produces more red blood cells, which improves endurance. Stöckli knows, as the tests at the national sports center in Magglingen show, that this type of training increases her performance. Her training plan is therefore precisely timed to ensure that she reaches her "peak" when the Paralympic road race takes place in Paris.
"It's a very complex thing," says Stöckli, who is taking part in the Paralympics for the third time. The 39-year-old used to compete as a wheelchair athlete and also took part in world championships, but it was a rib injury in 2013 that made her one of the best hand cyclists in the world today.
Because the injury made it impossible for her to sit in a racing wheelchair, Stöckli looked for another way to be physically active. And found not only that, but a passion in handcycling. Today, Stöckli is a two-time overall World Cup winner and multiple World Championship medalist.
Stöckli's training on the "tractor"
Stöckli is a perfectionist who plans and anticipates every detail. She has a duplicate of every part that could break on her handbike in her luggage so that she is prepared just in case. In any case, the material is a central piece of the puzzle for success. Stöckli is competing in the Paris races, which will end with a team competition on Saturday after the time trial on Wednesday and the road race on Thursday, with a new handbike. So far, this has only been used in two World Cup races. For Stöckli, however, it is obvious that she can race faster on it than on her previous handbikes.
On Monday, the East Swiss athlete is sitting in the Maison Suisse in the center of Paris when she recounts an episode. Her equipment was brought to France last Wednesday. As a result, she had to switch to her old handbikes for training until her arrival on Sunday.
And when she was on the road, she thought to herself a few times: "So Frankie, you feel a bit like a tractor." Stöckli laughs. She likes to give her handbikes names. The countless hours invested in development automatically create a close bond.
The fact that Stöckli did not travel to Paris with the aim of winning a Paralympic medal, despite her meticulousness and successes, is due to the fact that at the Paralympics, unlike in the World Cup, the athletes compete in combined categories. This means, for example, that the Swiss athlete also has to compete against rivals who are kneeling and not lying down on their bikes. "Prone bikers have too big a deficit compared to the kneeling bikers for it to be realistic to be among the front runners," says Stöckli, who hopes to at least be able to compete for a diploma in the road race, as she did in Tokyo.
Recher's successful spring
Fabian Recher is also competing in Paris with new equipment. He also went to the Engadin to prepare. Like Stöckli, the 25-year-old has invested a lot in terms of time and money so that he is ready for his second Paralympics after Tokyo. In Japan, the man from Spiez came seventh in both the road race and the team competition, earning himself a Paralympic diploma. Three years later, the Bernese cyclist, who was the first wheelchair racer to complete the top level of the sport, would hardly be satisfied with this result. "Based on the results in spring, I can proudly say that I'm one of the medal contenders here," says Recher.
The results he is referring to are his first World Cup victory in Ostende, Belgium, in May and his first time on the podium in a time trial. These are successes that have shown him that he is on the right track, that he was right to reduce his workload and that he has chosen the right sport, given his background in skiing, cross-country skiing, badminton, basketball and athletics.
His hopes of a medal are even higher in the road race than in the time trial. He has already ridden the course. There are only two small climbs over the 71 kilometers. That suits him, says Recher. But he puts it into perspective: "It's always a combination of your own performance and the material. Only when everything fits together can you get the best out of it."
Meanwhile, Benjamin Früh, the third hand cyclist in the Swiss team, is focusing on the time trial. The Zurich native says: "I'm fighting for a medal."
