‘Wie bitte?’: Why German is Alpine skiing’s common language

By ERIC WILLEMSEN
Associated Press

SÖLDEN, Austria (AP) — Skiing greats Lindsey Vonn and Aksel Lund Svindal spoke it fluently during their careers. Current overall World Cup champion Alexis Pinturault has been taking classes for two years. And Olympic downhill champion Sofia Goggia has just started to learn it as well. German has become the common language of ski racing. A growing number of skiers on the World Cup is learning it for various reasons. Many have German-speaking coaches or ski technicians. Svindal says “you learn the language because you don’t want to give the Austrians like home field advantage. I tried to feel at home as well.”