Krasnoyarsk 2019 really influenced my career says Lukas Zippert

When Swiss Alpine skier Lukas Zippert was about to start the Super G race at the Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade, he discovered a problem with his binding.

“Right before the start I had an issue with my binding and I got really freaked out,” he tells FISU. “We eventually managed to fix it in time, and by the time I was at the start I was just relieved and ready to do my best.”

He went onto win gold – a performance that catapulted him into the elite Swiss ski team, and he hasn’t looked back since.

The 22-year-old looks back on that winning performance in a #ThrowbackThursday special for FISU this week.

“It really influenced my career,” he says. “I had no expectations going in (to Krasnoyarsk). I hardly knew any of the other competitors, only my Swiss teammates, didn’t know where I stood.”

So was the 29^th Winter Universiade his first experience at an international, multi-sport event?

“Yes, it was!” he replies. “It was a completely overwhelming experience, one I’d never had before. The best part of it was living in the Universiade village with all the other international teams around, from all different sports.”

“Just getting into the bus in the morning with all the other skiers from around the world, going together to the venue, was an amazing experience.”

Zippert was enrolled in the Sports Science programme at ESHM, but after a very successful 2019 winter season, he decided to focus only on skiing. He finished fourth in the Swiss Championships in the Super G last season and is now training hard with the Swiss national team.

“Although at the moment, I’m back on my parents farm in Graubünden due to the COVID-19 situation,” he tells us candidly. “Two members of the team tested positive and we’re just seeing what will happen from day to day.”

Until recently though, the Swiss ski team had been training in Zermatt and near St Moritz for a few weeks. Although Zippert says he has “no idea” about how much of the upcoming season will take place, he says they are training as they would normally and are hoping for the best.

For a young man who started skiing at the age of three, it was only around the age of fifteen that he realised he should be skiing seriously and competitively.

“I started skiing at a really young age because both my parents are ski teachers,” he recalls. “I think I was about six or seven years old when I did my first few races. But it was when I started FIS skiing, around the age of 15-16, that’s when it really started. It’s when you start competing in those grown up races, that’s when it really starts to sink in that you could be seriously competing.”