At a media conference before the start of the season in Levi, Marc Rochat is more open than ever. The slalom specialist talks about mental blocks - and why it takes a lot of courage to talk about fear in skiing.
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- Slalom specialist Marc Rochat talks openly about mental challenges and emphasizes how important it is to admit fear and talk about it.
- A turning point in his career was working with a sports psychologist in whom he was able to confide completely for the first time.
- Today, Rochat wants to act as a role model and teach younger athletes that psychological stress is normal in competitive sport.
At 32, Marc Rochat is still waiting for his first World Cup podium. The slalom specialist has finished fourth twice in his career so far - his best result last winter was 10th place in Wengen. But at the World Ski Championships in Saalbach, he and Stefan Rogentin won the bronze medal in the combined team event.
However, last season was not an easy one for Rochat at the beginning. He was eliminated in the first run of the first four races and missed out on the top 30 at the fifth attempt. After the race in Wengen, he then finished in the points five more times in a row.
The slalom is generally regarded as a psychological discipline, as the athletes have to take a lot of risks and a small mistake can result in immediate elimination. Rochat himself explained at a Swiss-Ski media conference that he has been working with the same sports psychologist for five years: "It's a very personal subject, you need a special connection with this person. I had never found this until then," says Rochat.
Rochat explains that it is very difficult for professional athletes, especially skiers, to open up completely: "In the world we grow up in, it is very difficult to show and explain emotions and to open up. That was probably the most important step in my career, being able to talk to someone."
"Unfortunately, I didn't know that until I was 25 years old"
It made all the difference for him to find someone he trusted and could open up completely and talk about his doubts and fears.
Rochat explains that even as a child you are conditioned not to show whether you are afraid at the start: "You build up a wall and luckily I knocked that wall down with him." Rochat thinks back to his 12-year-old self and wishes that someone had told him back then that it was okay to be scared: "It's normal for an athlete at a high level to be scared. But I didn't know that until I was 25 years old. Unfortunately."
Now Rochat sees himself in the role of helping the younger athletes: "It's almost become my mission to explain to the younger generation that it's okay to be scared and to talk about it."
Rochat will have the opportunity to take on this role and face up to his fears next Sunday. That's when his slalom season starts in Levi, Finland.
The Swiss line-up for the World Cup slalom in Levi on November 15
- Loïc Meillard
Tanguy Nef
Daniel Yule
Ramon Zenhäusern
Marc Rochat
Luca Aerni
Matthias Iten
