Henrik Kristoffersen exclusive: ‘It’s way easier to work with Marcel Hirscher than against him’
The Norwegian shares insights into the collaboration with his old rival, and explains why his new team allows for "bigger possibilities" than in the past.
Alpine Skiing
For seven years they have been arch-rivals on the ski slopes, but Henrik Kristoffersen and Marcel Hirscher have now understood that joining forces can actually be beneficial for them both.
It made big headlines in the alpine world when Norwegian Kristoffersen – a two-time Olympic medallist and a world champion – announced in June that he signed for the ski brand company launched by Austrian legend Hirscher in 2021 following his retirement from competition.
And for what we’ve seen so far, the new partnership is working pretty well: Kristoffersen reached the podium three times in the five World Cup races he's entered this season, and missed a win by just 0.02 seconds in the first giant slalom in Alta Badia: “In just 15 months we already came close to winning our first race, an incredible result,” Hirscher recently said to Gazzetta dello Sport.
But how did the ‘King’ (Hirscher) and the ‘Prince’ (Kristoffersen), as they were nicknamed, end up working together? The record eight-time Big Crystal Globe winner didn’t want to reveal many details: “Why I chose Henrik? I can’t say it…”
But the Raelingen native opened up more: “I called him,” he said in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com just ahead of the 2022/23 season.
“I couldn't come to agreement with [ski brand] Rossignol, which both could live with. And then after my old contract with Rossignol ran out, I called Marcel. And then he called me back, we talked, [he said] he was going to check some small things and then it took about 40 minutes and we went testing.”
“I'm so glad today that I took this phone call because at the moment it's miles ahead of what it was previously. The attention to detail from everyone involved is something I have not been involved with before. And I kind of understand more now why Marcel won eight big Globes in a row.”
Kristoffersen on Hirscher: There was always a friendship there
The 28-year-old Kristoffersen twice finished second (2016, 2018) in the overall World Cup rankings behind Hirscher but in 2016 managed to win the slalom globe in front of the rival after beating him on several occasions.
The two have been sharing the same sponsor for years and they also built a personal relationship off the slopes:
“When we were on the hill competing against each other, we always wanted to beat each other. But still there was a friendship there,” said Kristoffersen, who described working with the Austrian as ‘really cool’.
“It's way easier to work with Marcel than against Marcel, that's for sure. – he added - But I've always had a really good relationship with Marcel. I have had an immense respect for him my entire career. I've always felt that he had a lot of respect for me as well.”
Kristoffersen: There are bigger possibilities to do well
The new collaboration between Kristoffersen and Hirscher goes beyond the simple sponsorship. It involves testing and a full team that can oversee the Norwegian’s development.
“Alpine skiing is an individual sport, which you can't do without good people around you. So at the moment I think I have some of the best people around me for sure,” he explained.
“Marcel has a lot of experience from skiing, which he can provide a lot of insight on. He can also do a lot of testing because his skiing is still pretty fast, especially in GS (giant slalom). So instead of me testing 12 different types of setups, he can test 12 and tell me which three are the best and then I try three instead of 12.”
Aside from the help of Hirscher, Kristoffersen is also now able to use the support of some of the best coaches, service men, and physios in the world.
“His father Ferdinand has a lot of experience, he’s really heavily involved with the skis. Eddie, his old service guy, is in charge of alpine skiing from Red Bull. So it's really great. And yeah, my new service man Raffie is doing a really great job and I still have the same coaching team with my dad [Lars] and 'Yul' and Andreas like I had last year. And I have a huge support in terms of physiotherapy and dryland coaches and everything.
“So there are bigger possibilities now than what has ever been. But still, when the biggest possibilities are there, you never have any guarantee that you're going to do good. You still have to perform at race day. You still have to train as hard as you did before, and you still have to push, push as far forward as possible. Without this, it's not going to work, even if you have the best team possible around you.”
Kristoffersen: I’m up there with the best in history
Kristoffersen is the second most successful active male skier with 28 wins and 75 podiums in the World Cup. Frenchman Alexis Pinturault shares the same number of podiums but has claimed six more victories.
“What if you take how many races you won compared to how many races you skied? I would be the number one,” the Norwegian pointed out with a laugh.
As of 22 December 2022, Kristoffersen has 195 World Cup starts, compared to Pinturault’s 310, which translates into a 14% winning percentage. This is higher than Pinturault (10%), but lower than his old rival Hirscher (27%).
“I am nothing close to what Marcel was when he still skied,” Kristoffersen admitted.
The Austrian reached the podium in more than half the races he competed in (56%), but Henrik’s stats are not bad either (38%): “Marcel was far ahead, but I think I'm up there,” the Norwegian added.
At 28, Kristoffersen has already won medals and globes that could make the career of any skier.
But the Norwegian prefers not to look back, and instead focus on what awaits him in the future.
“I think it's stupid to be satisfied when you're still an active skier,” he said.
“The time to be satisfied is when you're done, when you're taking the decision to stop skiing at professional level. That's the time to see if you're satisfied or not, because at the moment the goal is the next race. The goal is to win the next race you ski and this is how it has to be when you're still active because you still have to evolve, you still have to push forward, and otherwise you're going to stagnate and perform weaker than what you had done in the past. So you always have to try to push the limits and move forward, and that's important and then you can't be satisfied.”