LJUBLJANA, 8 June 2004 — Austrian Alpine skier Josef ‘Pepi’ Strobl will compete for Slovenia from next season if the International Skiing Federation (FIS) gives its blessing, the Slovenian ski federation said yesterday.
“It is our and his wish to carry this out...I hope we will be successful,” Klemen Bergant, Alpine director for the Slovene Skiing Federation, told Reuters.
Strobl, 30, announced last year he wanted to leave the talent-laden Austrian team because he was not starting in enough big races.
The Austrian federation has said it would not oppose his wish to leave for the small Alpine republic of two million people, which declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
“We told him last year we would do this and not put any barriers in his way,” Austrian Alpine director Hans Pum said.
Strobl, junior world champion in giant slalom in 1993, has won seven World Cup races since his debut in 1994.
Slovenia’s Bergant said Strobl would have to receive Slovenian citizenship and the FIS would have to approve the change when it meets in November.
“If Pepi does well in the races this will be OK but our main motive for bringing him here is to help our younger boys in training...Everyone in this team can learn a great deal from him,” Bergant said.
Austrian Bernhard Knavs also skied for the Slovenian Alpine team in the 1997-98 World Cup season and at the Winter Olympics in Nagano.
