Athlete profile: Hans Knauss

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

If you are a true alpine skiing aficionado, chances are you might have seen Knauss on television as a young 10-year-old...fifteen years ago, Knauss carried the flag for the Swedish ski team at the opening ceremony of the 1982 World Alpine Championships in his hometown of Schladming, Austria...that team was led by none other than the great Ingemar Stenmark, one of the best skiers of his time and one of Knauss' idols growing up..."I stood there with the flag for Sweden," describes Knauss with a laugh. "And then we skied down a special part of the course in the opening ceremony"...from 10 year-old flag bearer to 27 year-old Olympic medal hopeful, Knauss continues to carve turns on the mountain...he is one of several top Austrian all-around skiers who could surprise on any given day...though he has not won any major medals, Knauss finished third overall in the World Cup giant slalom standings last year and placed a solid sixth in Shiga Kogen at the giant slalom Olympic test Events ...still, he hopes to compete in the combined and the downhill in Nagano and would especially like to avenge his collapse in the Super G at last year's World Championships in Sestriere, Italy...with 200 meters to go before the finish, Knauss had the best split times of the day, but a poor finish left him in fourth-place and out of a medal..."In a World Cup it's good, but fourth place in the World Championships is like nothing," says Knauss...Knauss has not trained much for the technical slalom Events...he does have two top four finishes in the combined -- an Events which adds the times of a downhill run and two slalom runs..."If you try and do all four of the events you can be good, but not really good," espouses Knauss...the only exception to that rule being perhaps Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt, who is equally impressive in both slalom and downhill events...Hans has a well-known older brother, Bernhard, who was one of Austria's top skiers before leaving the World Cup circuit and switching to professional skiing...he dominated the professional ranks which included primarily parallel giant slalom racing...Bernhard is now attempting a comeback with the Slovenian team, since the Austrian team is too competitive for him to simply be re-instated on the squad..."It is the only way for him to come back," says Hans. "He likes it on the Slovenian team"...given Bernhard's immense success on the pro tour in the past, Hans was sometimes lured by potential of bigger and better successes on the U.S. Pro Tour...after a disappointing 1994 campaign when Hans recorded only two top-20 finishes the whole year, Hans thought his World Cup days were over...but Knauss stayed with the World Cup team due in large part to two conversations..."After the season, I had a long talk with the coaches," says Knauss. "I thought they would tell me that I would be off the team. When they said I wasn't, I was greatly relieved"...when Knauss realized he was lucky to still be on the team, he decided to change his work ethic...according to Knauss, he had been having "a little too much of a good time" on the World Cup circuit and things were going to be different..."Bernhard told me I had to change," says Hans. "He told me the way I was going was not the right way. He really helped me out a lot. I knew I had to start a new life with training and hard work. When I was a child, I always dreamed of winning races. I looked at my results, 71st? This is crazy. I needed a new physical approach, a more serious approach"...that's is when he thought about the Pro Tour..."There was a problem and I said to my brother, ‘I hate it. I come over to you,'" explains Hans. "But Bernhard said to me, ‘Stay at home, it's better.' It never really became a big issue. Looking back it was the right choice"...staying with Team Austria has provided Hans with another opportunity to shine at the Olympics...his 20th-place finish in the Super G in 1994 was somewhat disappointing -- though not unexpected considering he had only cracked the top 10 once prior to Lillehammer...he acknowledges that qualification for Nagano will be very tough within the Austrian team..."We have to be constantly fast the whole winter," says Knauss. "If in the last two or three races before the Olympics you are very slow, you will fall out and can't go to the Olympics. It's very, very hard"...in his free time, Hans enjoys the feeling of speed away from the snow just as much as he does on it..."I have three motorcycles," says Knauss. "A Ducatti, a Fat Boy and a KPM Motocross. It's fun for me. [I ride them] depending on how I feel. When I'm relaxed, I ride the Harley; when I want speed, the Ducatti; with the motorcross I just go around the mountains in my home"...Knauss recently moved into his own house in Schladming...he speaks good English...