Louis skiing up a storm to start the season

Images courtesy of of Ross Mackay/Snow Sports NZ & Winter Games NZ

Twenty-five year old Louis Muhlen-Schulte has already competed at the Junior World Championships, Winter Youth Olympic Games, World Championships and Olympic Games, as well as lining up at Alpine World Cups since 2019.

All that experience has continued to shape one of Australia’s leading technical skiers into a more well-rounded athlete and if the start of this season is anything to go by, it could be his best yet.

Muhlen-Schulte lined up at the New Zealand national championships at Coronet Peak earlier this month against a talented field which included the likes of Slovakia’s Adam Zampa and Great Britain’s Laurie Taylor, both of whom have top five Olympic Games results on their CVs.

Completing the first run of the slalom in fourth place, Muhlen-Schulte made up more than half a second on the leaders in the second run to claim victory.

Three days later he was in the giant slalom gate and was in second place after the first run, 0.37s from the lead. When he finished his second run, he was in front by more than eight-tenths of a second, and when the leader failed to finish the Aussie had his second race win in less than a week.

“I really had no expectations heading into the events,” said Muhlen-Schulte. “We had some tricky conditions early in our training block over here in New Zealand.

“As well, I just recently switched equipment brands so I was mostly focused on getting comfortable with the new skis and boots. So the races mostly just felt like some extra training and a chance to push a bit harder in a higher pressure environment.

“Personally, it was definitely reassuring to know that I had made the right decision in switching equipment.

“It also felt like a really nice start to the season. One which I wasn’t expecting, but am definitely proud of and keen to keep that momentum going into the northern season.”

Fast forward to this week and the Beijing 2022 skier is back at Coronet Peak and showing no signs of slowing down. He took on another strong giant slalom start list in yesterday’s Australia-New Zealand Cup in which he finished second, was edged into fourth by the final skier in today’s GS and has more slalom racing over the coming days.

While he remains unsure how his southern hemisphere form will translate to the northern winter, consistent podiums are a step in the right direction.

“It’s hard to say how it has set me up completely, but It is definitely nice to get a few good points scores this early,” he said. “It will allow me to focus a bit more on the training aspect and getting things locked in with equipment rather than worry about trying to race so much.

“But the real answer will come with the international season starting in October.”

Following this week’s racing, Muhlen-Schulte will head home briefly before getting back to work in Europe in September.

“It is definitely going to be a busy period this upcoming month or two leading into the international season,” he said, “but I am excited to see what lies ahead and keen to keep pushing and working hard.”