Interview with Siegfried Voglreiter (Fischer Racing Manager)
December 3, 2004, Beaver Creek, Colorado.
Q: What is the Fischer design philosophy when it comes to making skis?
S.V.: It’s a little bit difficult to say, but what we here do in the World Cup circuit, we want to build skis for the highest level. It’s like Formula 1 in skis. They are skis for the athletes that train the whole year. They are strong and [the only thing] they [do is] ski. They need really special[ized] skis. And each year the are more special[ized]. For every athlete, we need a little bit another [different] ski. It is, for example, stiffness, different sidecut, , the length, whatever. It’s so special[ized].
Q: You’ve mentioned Formula1… Do you think there will ever be a time when [ski] equipment will be so heavily regulated as in Formula1, for example, not only the length, but also the [specific] dimensions, or the stiffness, or the flex patterns? What do you think?
S.V.: There are so different things that are important… You can see athletes that are tall[er], that are lighter, every athlete need a special ski.
Q: A lot of higher end [non-professional] skiers [and amateur racers] try to get so-called “race stock” or “race room” skis. Is it something that is beneficial for them, or they are better off by buying a “consumer” race ski.
S.V.: That depends on how good their skiing is…
Q: So, what is you’re saying is that most of the top athletes have skis individually made for them? Do you envision [Fischer producing] a product “in between”: better than the consumer race ski, but a little bit easier to turn than the full-blown WorldCup ski?
S.V.: [WorldCup ski] is not necessarily better. Consumer race skis are a little bit softer, they are torsionally softer, so normal people can use them to ski. Normal people cannot train the whole year, so they need a little bit softer material, and that’s the only difference.
Q: So what you’re saying is that the construction is exactly the same, the skis are just softer?
S.V.: Normally, yes. The consumer racing skis and WorldCup racing skis, the construction is exactly the same…The only difference is the stiffness and the torsion.
Q: It seems to me that Atomic and Fischer subscribe to little bit different philosophies. Atomic is trying to be more of marketing-oriented company, they attract big stars [in effort] to sell their skis to an average consumer... [On the other hand ], there is a lot of input from an athlete that goes to the consumer. If Atomic gets Bode Miller, there is not much input that Atomic can get from Miller to put into consumer-oriented skis. Is the philosophy of Fischer to pick such athletes as Hans Knauss and Rainier Schoenfelder, who are, arguably, the best “technical” skiers, and use their experience to develop the ski [that could be taken] to the consumer?
S.V.: That is one of the things why we do racing. We race [not only] for the marketing purpose, but we also do it to develop products for the consumers.
Q: I see… So to use again the analogy with Formula1, Atomic is Ferrari and Fischer is Mercedes-Benz?
S.V.: [Laughs] At the moment, yes…But our [goal] is to be Ferrari… You see in this room the athletes that are going to bring us closer to Atomic. [Being best in the world] is our target and [these athletes] are our future. Sebastian Amiez, one of the famous slalom skiers; Fredrik Nyberg, famous GS racer; young athlete from Norway, Andreas Nielsen; then the winner of the SuperG in Beaver Creek yesterday, Stephan Goergl; the slalom WorldCup winner, Rainier Schoenfelder; here we have a world champion in slalom, Mario Matt, he’s new on Fischer; our “Papa” Hans Knauss and the man who made us so happy in Lake Louise, Silvan Zurbriggen; then, our best man in US, Tom Rothrock; and finally, Urs Imboden, one of the best slalom skiers from Switzerland.
Q: Thank you very much for the interview.
