PyeongChang 2018: Anna Schaffelhuber not thinking of retirement

“I am looking forward for PyeongChang 2018 to start. Enjoy the Games and try to win and show what I can do in each race. And try to be as good as possible. I really want to show my best performance.”

One may think that Anna Schaffelhuber would be feeling the pressure of extending her Paralympic winning streak after winning all five golds at Sochi 2014. But, far from that, the German alpine skier admits she is now free to take risks because she has “all possible golds at home.”

“At the beginning I thought ´Oh my God, now I have a huge pressure of winning all over again.´ But now I think I have no pressure because I have every single medal I could win at home. I can take risks and have nothing to lose.”

The 25-year-old made her Paralympic debut at Vancouver 2010, where she sealed bronze in the women´s super-G sitting, and then followed that up with a perfect Games in 2014, sweeping all her races.

“I am looking forward for PyeongChang 2018 to start. Enjoy the Games and try to win and show what I can do in each race. And try to be as good as possible. I really want to show my best performance,” she said.

Schaffelhuber also regrets having missed the opportunity to compete more in the lead-up to the Winter Paralympics due to the bad weather conditions which led to the cancellation of some World Cups.

“There were some problems with the weather conditions and, during the first part of the season, I was not happy with my performances. But by the end I think I had quite a lot of good races so now I feel comfortable with my skiing and feel everything will go well,” she said.

The German won three golds and one silver at the last World Cup in Kimberley, Canada, to finish third with 700 points in the overall rankings behind Austria's Claudia Loesch (905) and compatriot Anna-Lena Forster (720).

Schaffelhuber, who has won nine World titles throughout her career, said in an interview with The Paralympian, the official magazine of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), that she intended to retire after PyeongChang 2018.

However, she may have changed her mind. “Right now in PyeongChang, I don’t think about retiring, if it is the end or not because I have big challenges ahead,” she said.

“I want to think about that afterwards. But now I say that I would like to be at next year´s World Championships in Obersaxen, Switzerland.”

Every competition as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies can be watched live right here on the International Paralympic Committee’s website. Highlights of each day’s action will also be made available.

Tickets for PyeongChang 2018 can be purchased here.