There are athletes who fall into a hole after the Olympics. And then there is Sina Frei (24). The Tokyo silver winner only really gets going after the games. This is followed by the World Championships in Val di Sole. The Zurich-based woman becomes world champion in the short track, plus she won a bronze medal in the cross-country race. And now Frei is triumphing last Sunday together with team partner Laura Stigger (Austria, 21) at the Cape Epic in South Africa, the world’s most prestigious stage race – with eight wins in eight days!
The day after, Frei said to Blick: “We came here with no expectations because we had no experience in stage races. But now we are the youngest winners in racing history and have yet to win all the stages. “
After the games it’s free
The two befriended World Cup riders are helped by the great Cape Epic experience of their Specialized team. The duo just doesn’t run out of breath during the whole tough week. On Saturday they even clinched the stage win in the sprint, although they have long been over the mountains in the overall standings. Do you patronize your opponents and let them win? Not available at Frei and Stigger. “As always, we gave everything to the goal,” says the Zurich woman with a smile.
Olympic silver, world championship gold, world championship bronze, epic triumph – the 1.51 meter short biker is one of the big names of this season. She says: “I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the first World Cup races this year. But everything went extremely well after the Olympics. The silver medal brought momentum and gave me wings! “
After the Tokyo coup, Frei gets on his bike every day with even more joy than before. And it brings in the successes in a row.
The podium marathon also pays off financially. Frei has success bonuses for large events in their sponsorship contracts. “It’s wonderful that I can make a living from sport and now I can put something aside,” she says. She is particularly proud that several of her new sponsors have already docked before Tokyo and not after the medal.
But is the hole following now? Unlikely. Frei is looking forward to a four-week break at home with friends and family. But test drives will start again in Spain on December 1st.