Magnus Walch
Who is Global Racing?
Global is the creation of US-born coach Paul Epstein. The team has transitioned over the years from an Austrian-based team consisting mostly of international juniors to the home of World Cup racers from around the globe. It is the current team of one soon-to-be and three American World Cup GS skiers.
As always, the current Global story is interesting. The diverse international team has recently completed its first on-snow training camp of the season in Switzerland.
Saas Fee delivers
The challenging snow situation on Europe’s glaciers has caused many ski teams to change their summer training plans. While some training providers have closed their lifts temporarily, the Allalin glacier in Saas-Fee is open. Fortunately, for a few, it can still provide quality training. Following the team’s first camp, the Team Global head coach stated, “When the night is clear and the temperatures are low, training is great up there.”
Unfortunately, this summer, not everyone who planned on being in Saas-Fee gets to train on the Swiss glacier. This summer, Saas-Fee had to reject many team requests due to limited lane space. Epstein comments, “We are happy that we already reserved our lanes months in advance and can now hold our training camps as planned.”
Newcomers to the team
Since its founding nine years ago, Global has grown and become increasingly professional. However, the mission remains the same. They are creating world-class ski racers and qualifying the athletes for their respective national teams. When his athletes leave Global, Epstein has a tear in one eye and a smile in the other. He states, “I am thrilled when my guys qualify for their national teams – that’s our big common goal. But, of course, you build up a very close relationship during the season and would like to continue working together.”
Such was the case with Anton Grammel. The 24-year-old German had a brilliant 2021-22 season. He qualified for the second run in his first World Cup and is now back on the German national team. Someone looking to match that performance is Global newcomer Hannes Zingerle. Despite World Cup points in Kranjska Gora, Zingerle wasn’t nominated for the Italian national team and is highly motivated to rectify the situation.
Tormis Laine from Estonia is the second new signing. He finds himself in the Top 140 world ranking in both giant slalom and slalom and is already impressed with the team spirit after the first camp: “Everyone on the team works extremely hard and all coaches are as motivated as the athletes – that’s what makes training so efficient.”
The third new team member is actually not new but can be called a returnee. Two years ago, Christian Borgnaes made the Austrian national team after one year with Global. After last season he decided to change nations and is now racing for Denmark. Without worrying about internal time trials for World Cup starting spots, Borgnaes can now fully focus on his race performance.
But that’s not all the newcomers. Team Žampa from Slovakia – the brothers Adam and Andreas – have joined the team for 2022-23 and will bring along additional manpower with a coach, a physiotherapist and a serviceman. Additionally, Epstein is keen to commit to a unique team member. Bernadette Lorenz from Austria is the first and only woman on Team Global Racing.
Global unites in Saas-Fee
After an intense and productive on-snow training period in the spring, the Global athletes have focused on physical preparation for the last three months. While the European team members spent most of their time training together in Innsbruck, the US men on the team – Brian McLaughlin, George Steffey, Patrick Kenney and Tim Gavett – flew home and worked out to be strong in the US.
Since the beginning of August, the team has been together. The exceptions are Harry Laidlaw will spend a few more weeks skiing at his home resort in Mt. Hotham, Australia, and the Žampa brothers are heading to New Zealand before joining the team in Europe in the beginning of September. The rest of the team follows a reasonable pace this month, alternating between a week on-snow in Saas-Fee and a week off-snow in Innsbruck.
A Völkl factory team?
When looking at the latest team picture of Saas-Fee, one might think Global is a Völkl factory team. And that’s not too far from reality: Eight athletes are racing on the equipment package of Marker-Dalbello-Völkl. “The skis and boots fit perfectly to the skiing style of our athletes,” comments Epstein. “And the support we get from the factory is unique.” Völkl even provides Sam Maes and Harry Laidlaw with a factory ski serviceman – something that’s completely unusual since Global is a private team. The relationship is mutually beneficial: Völkl and Global are working jointly on the development of GS skis and boots.
Big goals
Asking Epstein about goals for the upcoming season, he answers pretty candidly: “We want more and more guys qualifying for second runs in giant slalom and aim to score our first World Cup points in slalom. By the end of the season, we intend to have athletes in the Top 30 of the World Cup standing.” At first glance, these goals might seem ambitious for a private team. Looking back, however, they are more than realistic. Many of the Global guys have improved every year and are ready for the next big step. The first race of the season is less than a hundred days away. Athletes and coaches will keep working hard to be ready for Sölden by the end of October.
