Feller celebrated his first World Cup victory at the slalom in Flachau in January.
Ski star Manuel Feller speaks plain language! The ÖSV athlete is bursting with self-confidence before the start of the season. Also because he showed the critics.
Showdown in Sölden! This weekend the starting shot for the new ski season will be given on the glacier. On Saturday the ÖSV women race for their first victory (“Today” ticked live). On Sunday it will be serious for the men. Manuel Feller and Marco Schwarz are the greatest hopes for a home win.
Feller looks back on a strong previous year in which the button finally opened after numerous setbacks. He celebrated his first two World Cup victories in slalom in Flachau and Lenzerheide. After two herniated discs and arguments with critics, a satisfaction for the Tyrolean.
He made this clear again in an interview with the “Kurier” before Sölden. Feller reflects on the pressure, which was partly self-imposed: “The problem is: As soon as your name is in the newspaper more often and you don't deliver, then some people will always be pissed off drives up front, everyone helps to the boy and not to the one who has been with us for ten years and always talks nonsense. You have to honestly say that I reacted wrongly to certain things. “
As a result, the headlights were often pointed at him. So also before the slalom in Flachau. Feller had previously referred to the flat slope as a fairy tale meadow. A statement that did not cause enthusiasm everywhere. But, says the 29-year-old: “You will never forget that. And by the way, that was also the race with the highest ratings. Why?”
He immediately gave the answer himself: “Because 200,000 people just wanted to see me blown in the face. But that has something too. People should watch the races, and if they want to see me rolling around, okay too. I have a lot of friends, who have nothing to do with skiing and now watch the races because of me. I even bring Jamaicans to ski, they watch the Olympics. I think that's cool. “
Jamaican because he shares his love for reggae and dancehall with them. Feller even recorded songs himself. In addition, a self-made music clip on Instagram had caused a stir – one of the incidents in which Feller quarreled with his critics. He had shown them the middle finger in the video, rapped annoyed about the self-proclaimed ski experts.
The father of two remembers: “Perhaps I should have used other words and other symbols. When you are physically and mentally at your limit, the fuse is sometimes very short. That's the way it is.”
