Road to Ski-WM Saalbach 2025!

Road to Ski-WM Saalbach 2025!

Long Story short! My name is Richard Leitgeb, it have been wild, turbulent and exhausting times but I’m finally back as a skiracer for the Hungarian Ski Federation!

What seemed to be far gone has now become reality. After 3 years of not being able to race I have the chance to compete at the World Cup as well as in the World Ski Championships in Saalbach representing Hungary.

3 years of not knowing if I would ever be able to return, 3 years of working, studying and teaching. I’m thankful for the few people by my side who supported me so that I am able to write these words right here.

After FIS finally confirmed that I am allowed to start skiing competitively again I was confronted with losing the fis-points i had. It's similar to a restart, starting nearly at the end of the field with high bibs again. Therefore, I quickly decided to start my comeback journey in Argentina!

I went to South America not knowing if I could ever return to the level I was skiing. But against all odds I immediately won a Continentalcup Slalom and a FIS Slalom. I began the race season ranked 1375th in the world and now I will be 81st.

After 3 races I already achieved the limit to participate in World Cup events!

But my savings can just cover this trip and I have no idea how to fund a full season. I still have to figure out how to realize my plan and therefore I'm in search of supporters and sponsors.

There's also 2 spots left on my helmet where I can promote your brand/company/ etc.

Even if you can't support, please tell your friends, forward to your whatsappgroups and share, share, share!

Read more about my path, if you’re interested.

Or scroll to the "Plan" at the end to see how to get me to World Cup again.

The Beginning

A few words about me and my previous journey, to help you understand my story. I grew up in Straßburg in Kärnten, learning to ski from a young age. My parents worked regular jobs and dedicated all their free time to getting me to the slopes. All started as a hobby, but the older I got the more serious everything became. It was about choosing a sports specific school, sacrificing friends and family time for training, and missing out on things my peers experienced.

But I don’t feel like I missed out. The only things I didn’t really need to experience were growing problems and constant pain due to that. In the early FIS-years I just couldn’t physically keep up with my faster developing peers and I lost about 4 seasons of my sportive career due to injuries.

I basically just started skiing when I got rid of my growing problems, but the federation had already decided over my head that my career was over.

But it wasn’t! After graduating Ski Akademie Schladming and my second year of studying, I was suddenly the 2nd best slalom skier my age in in the world. I finally made it straight to the B-team as the 6th best austrian slalom racer.

Within 6 months my world completely changed.

For the first time ever I had a serviceman, a physio and a surrounding that I didn't have to pay for. With good results I went straight to my first ever worldcup in Val d’Isere 2016.

Due to good results in European Cup, Worldcup starts in Madonna di Campiglio and Schladming followed. That year I also got the Gold medal at Universiade Slalom and made results like Westendorf on FIS Races.

You could think everything was according to plan, but in fact, after the 2016/17 season I got kicked out of the Austrian team for not being good enough.

It was the only season I was part of the Austrian National Team and I never got nominated again.

Not knowing all of this I just kept going for the next years.

I joined the private Training group WRA (World Racing Academy ), I prepared the skis on my own- like I did the years before, I organized full seasons, travelled alone, studied sports and geography aside, trained physically and on skis everyday possible, basically working 2 regular jobs while just barely surviving with the help from my sponsors.

I even managed to get 4 more World Cup starts.

Without a national team supporting me, I skied Wengen, Adelboden, Zagreb and one more time in Wengen and became the 45th best Slalom skier in the World.

Even through covid I kept going until the end of the 2020-2021 season. In total I had the criteria to start World Cup races for 6 consecutive seasons!

However, the Austrian Ski Team wouldn’t grant me anymore starting spots for World Cup nor secure spots for Europa Cup. I simply wasn’t allowed to start races anymore, where I could improve my worldranking again.

The End?

But just because it was the end of my career in Austria it shouldn’t be the end of skiracing.

I always asked myself: “why do I have to stop, when I’m amongst the best Salomon slalom racers in the world, and fullfill the criteria to start every single World Cup slalom? Why do I have to quit the thing, I've been doing for 24 years, while everything is according to plan?”

The last 3 years really were a process of a lot of bureaucracy and paperwork which I put myself in. The hardest part was doing all of this, not knowing if it will ever be successful.

It went way beyond the sportive problems and was one of the most challenging tasks I’ve ever done. I speak so much about what I’ve done but it’s also about the people involved, who really stood by my side making it happen. I’ve learned a lot about life and the different paths you can take. I’m really happy, that with engagement and a positive attitude, you can still find your way.

But it’s been 3 years in which I couldn’t race or live the life I used to live as an athlete. I had to study and work and try to fit into regular life.

Once I finished my study and did my education I worked as a teacher and coach in the School for Tourism and Skiing in Bad Hofgastein, where I really got close the sport of skiracing again. I was in charge of the FIS team for skiing and dryland training. My own athletes really showed me the love for this sport again and everything that is connected to it. I still stand by their side and I’m ready to collect more experiences to help them on their future paths.

But I still wasn’t racing or training gates because I didn’t even know if I could ever be a professional sportsman again.

The Restart!

But in June/July there finally was a message from FIS. First, I got the information that FIS finally accepted my license change to Hungary, which made me really optimistic that I could give skiracing one more try.

But FIS also informed me later that my FIS points would rise up to 202 in Giant Slalom and 71 in Slalom, which immediately stopped my positive attitude.

What it meant was basically that with points that high, I had to restart from scratch. I would start in the back of the field and had no chances to do World Cup events. I still had no funding, had no sponsors and had the feeling, that just before the finish line, it’s all breaking apart.

But as it was never my thing to give up, I also didn’t accept it this time.

I have the support from the hungarian ski federation, but I have no funding yet, or sponsors to finance a full season, or a budget to be a professional skiracer!

But what I have is the fastest skis and support from SALOMON ; protection and gear from SHRED and wax from Holmenkol .

And so I only had 1 chance.

I took my savings to invest into a solo trip with 125 kg of luggage – and went quite spontaneously to South America.

I didn’t have enough time to prepare perfectly for all this trip. All I had was support from Daniel Fahrner and World Racing Academy Juniors getting as much stubby-slalom days in on Stelvio and the Simari Birkner Skiteam, who is organizing everything in Argentina.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect after 3 years of not racing!

But there was one thing different:

It felt different standing in the starting gate again!

I finally felt free!

After being away from the sport you loved, the sport you'd dedicated your life to, the sport that others had decided was over for you.

To be standing in the starting gate again was the purest form of joy I could have ever asked for! And it showed!

I would like to thank Hungary and the Hungarian Ski Federation for giving me the opportunity to compete in alpine ski racing again and that I can finally follow my dreams.

I feel like I am getting that second chance in life that so many people talk about.

I'm just grateful and overwhelmed that it's not just a dream anymore! I'm actually skiing again!

And I couldn’t have asked for a better start.

In my first slalom competition I started with bib 42 and finshed 4th.

My second slalom race, a Continental Cup Slalom, against all odds – I won!

But it’s not just a win, I even scored 18,64 FIS points which are the best points I ever scored in the new FIS-point system.

With these points and another race win I already fulfill the requirements to be allowed to start in World Cup!

I started the first race as the 1375th best slalom skier in the world, and after 3 races I will be 81st in the world!

And it’s just the start!

The Plan

The chances are really high, that I’ll participate in the World Ski Championships in Saalbach and If I can cover it somehow I’ll be at the

I put my own savings in this summer skiing trip but I have no idea how to finance a full winter or worldcup season yet!

Aside from the funding, I will still do most of the things on my own again: I will tune the skis by myself, I'm my own physiotherapist, I will drive the thousands of kilometres and manage my life as a racer. I have support from the hungarian federation but there's still a lot more to pay for like lift tickets, food, petrol, insurance, coach fees, training fees and everyday life on the road.

Calculated it would be around 30.000 € - 40.000 € per season, which I have to cover somehow to make a full World Cup season a reality.

I'm starting this crowdfunding project to cover parts of my season and I’m still in search for sponsors which I can represent on social media or clothing.

Also I’m in search of 2 main head-sponsors, which would like to join me on the road to the World Ski Championships in Saalbach .

Or just share, share,share and spread the word!

I look forward to reaching my goals with you!

Until then, I’ll continue my way of racing.

‘cause I’m finally free!