Giant steps – the Swiss year in skiing

Michael Von Grünigen and Sonja Nef shone in St Anton Keystone Archive

Encouraging results at the world championships in St Anton saw Switzerland's skiers make a promising start to 2001. But no amount of medals could compensate for the tragedy that struck the team in December.

The nation was stunned just weeks ago when rising young talent Silvano Beltrametti suffered a horrific crash in Val d’Isère which left the 22-year-old from Graubünden permanently paralysed from the chest down.

It was all a long way from the hopes spawned in February’s world championships – hopes in which Beltrametti himself played a major part.

The headlines were made by Sonja Nef and Michael von Grünigen who were both emphatic gold medal winners in the giant slalom discipline, while veteran star Paul Accola grabbed a slightly more unexpected bronze medal in the combined category.

The medal haul marked a considerable improvement on the previous world championships (at which Switzerland won just two bronzes) but was also significantly short of the association’s own ambitious target of six medals.

Cause for confidence

However there were also four fourth place finishes to consider in St Anton with Lillian Kummer, Corinne Rey-Bellet (twice) and Beltrametti just missing out on podium finishes and giving the association cause for confidence 12 months ahead of the Winter Olympics.

“I’ve been pleased by our performances,” Swiss Ski president Duri Bezzola told swissinfo. “We’ve also seen young skiers like Lillian Kummer, Silvano Beltrametti and Didier Defago starting to come through.”

Currently facing a lengthy rehabilitation process at the national paraplegic centre in Nottwil, Beltrametti is sadly no longer a part of Switzerland’s Olympic dream.

Chasing Austria

Having vowed to race on “for Silvano” in the days following December’s tragic events, though, Beltrametti’s team-mates will be keen to close the gap between themselves and skiing superpower Austria at the Salt Lake City showdown in February.

Prior to the start of the current season, the ski association repeated its desire to broaden the spread of talent in the Swiss squad, with new women’s coach Angelo Maina particularly set on bringing fresh talent to a team whose recent successes have come almost entirely from Sonja Nef and Corinne-Rey Bellet.

For the immediate future, though, Nef and von Grünigen are likely to remain the pegs on which Switzerland’s main hopes are hung.

The rise of Nef

For Nef in particular it’s a responsibility that had seemed unimaginable just a few seasons ago.

The 29-year-old Apenzeller took an especially tough route towards her gold in St Anton. Written off by the association in her early twenties after a series of highly disruptive injuries, Nef had to fight her own battles and undergo six knee operations before finally hitting the heights.

Ironically once she had overcome those obstacles, Nef was to arrive in St Anton as the hot favourite, having already clinched the World Cup title with an unbeaten winning run on the FIS tour. Comfortably dealing with the expectations placed upon her, Nef was understandably delighted to then add the world championship gold to her honours.

“This season couldn’t have gone any better,” Nef told swissinfo in St Anton. “It was fantastic. I was already overjoyed about winning the World Cup title and now I have realised my big dream of becoming world champion. I’m just so happy.”

Sportswoman of the Year

Nef’s popularity both as a winner and a fighter were to bring her further recognition in December when she was named Swiss Sportswoman of the Year. Poignantly, the awards ceremony took place just hours after Silvano Beltrametti’s horror crash in Val d’Isère.

Nef’s words as she picked up the award summed up perfectly a year of highly mixed emotions for the Swiss skiing team and their fans.

“It’s a great honour and joy for me to accept this award,” Nef said, “But before I go I of course want to wish Silvano the very best of strength. Lots of strength for the future and lots of strength, energy and willpower – the same willpower and energy that you showed in your skiing.”

by Mark Ledsom

Tomorrow: Brilliant Bucher – the Swiss year in athletics