As the first three events in Kühtai snuck by with nearly perfect weather, the fourth event, freestyle ski cross was not as lucky. The finals were planned for Friday January 20th but due to heavy snowfalls, strong winds and road closures an unfortunate decision had to be made to cancel the final round. On the bright side, the qualifications were run as scheduled the afternoon before the anticipated finals, meaning that medals could be awarded given the qualification results. Michaela HEIDER from Austria and Niki LEHIKOINEN of Finland were surprised yet thrilled to hear about the news of their gold medal success.
The YOG YIS followed up with these two first time Olympic medalists and their reaction to the shocking yet gratifying news.
Michaela HEIDER (AUT) did not know she would be competing at the Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games until she received a phone call on January 16, inviting her to take the place of injured teammate Michelle BUCHHOLZER (AUT).
HEIDER had only raced Ski-Cross once before, in November 2011, but is now a Gold medallist in the sport.
“On the way to Innsbruck I thought to myself, 'Why am I even going there? I'll have no chance'," HEIDER said.
The Austrian was awarded the Gold medal on the strength of her Qualification run of 58.38 seconds, with the Silver medal going to Veronika CAMKOVA (CZE) with a time of 58.63s, and Bronze going to Emilie BENZ (SUI) in 58.82s.
Ski-Cross Gold medallist HEIDER (AUT), and Men’s Gold medallist Niki LEHIKOINEN (FIN), won their disciplines after a ruling was made on Saturday that the Final would be cancelled due to adverse weather, and Qualification runs would count as the Final result.
"Sure it’s a pity that the race was cancelled,” HEIDER said. “But that doesn't decrease the worth of my win for me. Gold is Gold."
LEHIKOINEN, speaking after receiving his Gold at Innsbruck Medals Plaza on Saturday night, had been aware that the Final could be cancelled, but admits the news still came as a surprise.
“I was just sitting in my room and my coach called me and told me I was an Olympic champion,” he said.
The Finn is one of a new wave of athletes who train almost exclusively for Ski Cross. Traditionally, Ski Cross athletes have made the switch from Alpine Skiing.
LEHIKOINEN won his event with a time of 56.15s. Silver went to Marzellus RENN (GER), who skied a 56.96s time and Bronze went to Matty HERAUF (CAN), who notched a time of 57.34s.
“It feels really good, but it would be nice to win it by a real race,” LEHIKOINEN said. “But this Gold means everything to me.”
(Story YIS tb/rm)
(Photo Ski Finland)
