Alpine racing continues in Europe with first World Cup slalom for Muhlen-Schulte and Europa Cup PB for Laidlaw

Alpine racing continues in Europe with National Alpine Ski Team (NAST) members Harry Laidlaw and Louis Muhlen-Schulte racing through a busy pre-Christmas schedule which includes a series of World Cup and Europa Cup technical events.

Harry Laidlaw was impressive in Zinal, Switzerland, where he recorded back-to-back personal bests in the Europa Cup, finishing in fifth place in the first Giant Slalom and improving to fourth the next day.

With his teammate edging ever so close to the Europa Cup podium, Louis Muhlen-Schulte raced his first World Cup slalom of the season in Val d’Isere. Unfortunately he could not tame the Face de Bellevarde slope the way he had hoped for, but the 24-year-old skier was still able to take some positives out of his performance. 

“For me it wasn’t the best race, but the atmosphere and the crowd in Val d’Isere were amazing and it’s definitely an awesome place to race,” Muhlen-Schulte said. 

“I was feeling good coming into the races,  having had some great training and feeling like I was making the right steps in my skiing.  

“However a mistake on my part, with my equipment, caused me to not have so much grip, which made it really tough to ski and didn’t allow me to attack the course the way I wanted to.”  

Muhlen-Schulte has been trying to balance his time fairly evenly between training for the Slalom and the Giant Slalom during the first part of the season, a strategy which has delivered good results - despite causing some frustration from time to time “when I want more of one, but that takes away from the other!” 

“Preparation has been great so far. I feel like I have made some great steps in both disciplines and now I am just working to consolidate them in the races,” said Muhlen-Schulte. 

He will have plenty of opportunities to do so before Christmas, as Europa Cup slaloms in Obereggen and Val di Fassa will pave the way for another World Cup slalom in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. Muhlen-Schulte is excited to be racing often and trying to implement into the races the changes he’s been making in his training. 

“I feel I can achieve much more, but I am happy with the progress so far, and I feel like I am building a lot of good forward momentum. I am looking forward to this last push before Christmas and into the new year,” he said. 

With qualification to the 2023 FIS Alpine World Championships on the horizon, right now Muhlen-Schulte’s main goal is first and foremost to achieve the necessary consistency to perform at a good standard, to then try to raise the bar at big events. 

“World Championships is definitely a big one, I would love to get a strong result there. Also scoring World Cup points is always a big goal, albeit definitely not an easy one. 

“I think my biggest goal this season is to build that race-horse mentality in my racing, try not to have such big ups and downs, or at least continue to solidify the changes I am making,” he said. 

It promises to be an exciting lead-up to Christmas for Australian Alpine skiing as Laidlaw and Muhlen-Schulte are about to take on two great classics of the FIS World Cup circuit, like the Alta Badia Giant Slalom (18-19 December, Harry Laidlaw) and the Madonna di Campiglio slalom (22 December, Louis Muhlen-Schulte) to wrap up the first part of their season.

📷 | @alpine_visuals