Athlete profile: Alexandra Meissnitzer

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

Athlete notes

With two podiums in the giant slalom before the New Year and a new look on her competitive skiing to go along with that, Meissnitzer is raring to go for Nagano..."Every year we had a new coach and some problems," says Meissnitzer of the Austrian women's team in the past few years. "I didn't trust myself before"...now that she has climbed back among the top 10 overall World Cup leaders, Meissnitzer believes in herself...after a stellar 1995-96 campaign, Meissnitzer stumbled before righting herself again in recent months..."It's a big step to come back. My success in the GS is a big surprise for me," she said earlier this winter. "Last year I did not even qualify for the giant slalom events"...she credits her early World Cup success to hard work and new equipment..."I was testing a lot this summer," says Meissnitzer. "No vacation, just training. We spent five weeks in Las Lenas (Argentina) and made more runs than the last season. We worked on downhill and conditioning and if people (Austrians) have good results they deserve it"...the endless summer training even grew a little weary on the Austrian skiers..."We go sick of each other," says Meissnitzer with a laugh. "If you stay one place for so long, it's going to happen. We had no fun, no spare time"...she says the competitive team can also add to the pressure..."Sometimes it's a lot of pressure. If you are skiing well, it's good," she says. "Sometimes I wish I was on a small team, like Elfi Eder decided to do"...Eder is a former Austrian who now represents Grenada after deciding to work with a personal coach...Meissnitzer says she does not know what happened last year, "if we knew what happened, it wouldn't have happened"...with this year's new-found confidence, come new goals..."The overall World Cup is in the back of my mind," she says. "My goals are to be good in every discipline and top three in the Olympics Games"...what Events she is thinking of, Meissnitzer would not quite say...Alexandra started skiing when she was just four years old, citing "tradition" as the reason for her start...at six years old she was in her first race, and at 15 she made a crucial decision to enter the famous Stams Ski Academy..."I had to decide - job or skiing," she says, and lucky for her, she turned out to be quite a skier...after garnering two medals at the 1992 World Junior Championships, Alexandra did not hit the World Cup level until after Lillehammer...Meissnitzer is good friends with American skiing star Picabo Street and spent several weeks with her last summer in Portland, Oregon..."I met her first in 1995 in St. Anton on the podium," tells Meissnitzer, "and I've gotten to know her well. I've been to visit her and I like spending time with her. She is really such a positive person -- great to be around -- and I hope her comeback goes well"...Alexandra's father is a mechanic and her mother works in public service for the local government...in her free time, she likes to play soccer, volleyball and, like many of her Austrian male counterparts, enjoys motorcycling...she is currently in training to become a police-woman in the Austrian "Gendarmerie"...Alexandra speaks good English...