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Michelle Gisin had to overcome difficult moments in the last World Cup winter.
Image: Keystone
After a disappointing season, Michelle Gisin wants to catch up with the world's best in the coming winter. In an interview, she talks about the difficult moments and the harsh criticism.
Michelle Gisin experienced challenging times in the last World Cup winter and fell into a personal crisis in the meantime. In December, the all-rounder skipped races to take some time out. Nevertheless, at the end of January after the races in Garmisch, retirement does not seem out of the question.
"I felt that it was a very, very difficult situation for me. The whole house of cards collapsed. It was difficult to find the motivation and enthusiasm that had sustained me for years, as my fire was much less blazing than usual," explains Gisin in an interview with CH Media.
Gisin suffered a serious setback early on in the past season. "I did speed training again after Sölden and everything went perfectly. Then I came to Cooper Mountain three weeks later after the technical races in Levi, Gurgl and Killington and couldn't ski anymore. I couldn't make a decent turn. It was impossible. I was ashamed of it and completely miserable," says the 31-year-old.
When the results subsequently failed to materialize, Gisin had to accept criticism. "I was surprised at how many people are obviously offended when I don't ski well. I didn't know that a bad result from me could be so bad for Mr. XY. I understand the disappointment, but why do you have to write hate comments about it?" asks the slalom World Cup winner.
The Engelberg native had to bite particularly hard in the second half of the season. "Getting out of it wasn't easy and took time. I needed distance and had to force myself to consciously not ski for four months," says Gisin, who is trying to put her experiences into perspective during this long break: "In situations like this, you also have to realize that I'm basically doing very well. I'm healthy, my environment is healthy."
It's now clear to Gisin that she wants to give it another go in the upcoming Olympic season: "It's about taking it one day at a time, stabilizing one thing at a time and not five things at once. And to give myself the time I need to do that," says Gisin, adding: "We now have to rebuild a lot of things, put them back together and work on automatisms. And see if I can catch up with the world's best again by the winter."
