Carlo Janka - How out of the crisis?

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Once a celebrated star and great hope of the Swiss skiing nation, the native of Graubünden is now struggling to make it on the international ski circuit. The worst thing is that no one knows the solution to the riddle. What happens next?

by Rolf Fleckenstein

The cover of our "Sportguide Ski 2009/10" issue featured Carlo Janka in an attacking pose as he battled for the best possible placing in the giant slalom. At that time, he was already one of the top favorites in the giant slalom, having won gold in the giant slalom and bronze in the downhill at the World Championships in Val d'Isère in February 2009 at the age of just 22. He had barely advanced to second place in the downhill in Lake Louise on November 29, 2008, with bib number 65, and had thus come to the attention of the world public as a top skier. The small glass globe for winning the combined World Cup was almost a logical consequence. It had now also become clear to Switzerland that with him a skier had grown up in the disciplines of downhill and giant slalom who would have enormous potential for a super career and a successful Swiss skiing history. The young talent had become a ski star.

Mysterious disease and no consequences
Already during the preparation for the 2009/10 season, "Jänks", as he is called, had been afflicted by a mysterious viral disease that prevented regular trai-ning from May-July. But this first setback did not affect him. The 2009/10 season got off to an ideal start with a third place in Sölden and three consecutive victories in Beaver Creek. In this form, he had to succeed a lot. Winning the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen was one of his high points in the current season, something other top skiers have been waiting years for. Janka celebrated his greatest triumph at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver with victory in the giant slalom. With a gold Olympic medal, he belonged to the inner circle of the world's best skiers. He was one of the favorites in the giant slalom and downhill at the Olympics, but was unable to cope with the downhill course and finished in 11th place. In the super-combined he got the ungrateful 4th place next to the 8th place in the super-G. It seemed that no physical setback could harm him.

The disease prevails
But things were to turn out differently than hoped. The mysterious viral illness had apparently been overcome, but by the next season the worm was about to be in deeper. In 2010, the diagnosis was cardiac arrhythmia. It was clear that with this finding the athlete's performance was severely limited, but just one had a medical finding. The cause of this heart rhythm irregularity was and is still unknown.....

You can find the whole article in the current issue here
You can find the interview with the star in the current issue