When all superlatives were worn out, when absolutely no more improvement was possible, it became the Downhill World Champion 2022 explained. The press release sent out by their sponsor in the joy of the freshly signed six-year contract was indeed free of irony. Which, incidentally, was the next superlative. Never before had a thirteen-year-old been offered such a contract.
"Oh, the World Cup thing," Valentina Höll, known as Vali, rolls her eyes cheekily: "I think it's rather funny."
It's Tuesday, the small Austrian tourist town of Saalbach is dimmed by a damp, cold cloud sponge. Vali is lounging on the tobacco-brown upholstered corner seat that surrounds the dining area's massive solid wood table. The Hölls only live in the cosy four-room flat in winter, with its terrace overlooking lush green, high alpine grass mats as if from a grandstand. In summer, they run the Spielberghaus, a rustic hut with guest rooms above Saalbach. The season opens next week. Mum Sabine and Dad Walter are bustling around excitedly. Vali sits calmly and checks her Facebook page on her smartphone. She competed in the Rookies Cup in Winterberg at the weekend and came fourth. Not in the girls' class. And not in the women's category either. These categories have long since ceased to interest her. In order to elicit any stimulating effect from her stress hormones, Vali races in the U15 boys' category. She would have won the women's classification by half a minute.
"I wasn't sure whether you had run a shorter course in the U15 because of the big lead over all the ladies ...", commented one of them incredulously on the Facebook entry.
"Haha ... nope, exactly the same," Vali types in response. 255 likes that.
So this is her. Vali Höll, supposedly the world's greatest downhill talent. The mountain bike prodigy who is
predicted to be the fastest female biker in the world in 2022. The girl who hurtles down the valley with such virtuosity, who was signed up for six years by the same team that scene superman Andreu Lacondeguy rides for. Which seems totally unreal when you see her sitting there - with her grey baggy jumper and good schoolgirl look. But it's deceptive. Vali has long been a media professional. She has had more photo shoots than many a World Cup hero. She has posed for catalogues. The ORF was there recently. The clothes are sent to her by the crate. Every item is carefully selected. She knows exactly how to put herself in the limelight.
Isn't the pressure driving you crazy?
Vali: No, not at all. I only do what I enjoy. When I got the contract with the professional team, of course there were some stupid comments. What's the point, I'm still a kid. But honestly, I can quit at any time if I don't like it anymore. I'm under no pressure.
Every sponsor has expectations.
Nah, I'm just supposed to ride and have fun.
What exactly do you enjoy?
Curves! I really like curves! And step-ups and tables. And root carpets where you can step on the gas. Just no rock gardens. That hurts when you fall. Fluffy forest floor is the best!
Mum Sabine, who is scurrying past with a pile of business folders, has overheard the snippet of conversation and, alluding to their recent holiday together in Whistler, exclaims: "And every now and then a cute baby bear has to run across the trail! Nah, Vali?" Downhill rider Angie Hohenwarter, also known to many as the sexy Miss September of the Cyclepassion calendar, gave Vali the trip to the freeride mecca as a confirmation present.
"That was really cool. In Whistler, there are 58 trails on a single mountain. I liked the Blue Velvet best," enthuses Vali, to which Sabine responds with perhaps the most unusual mum sentence that a fourteen-year-old girl ever hears:
"Well, I thought the crank-it-up line with the cool shaped tables was the best!" And you guessed it: if you want to follow in the footsteps of the downhill wonder, you can stay right here on the tobacco-brown upholstered corner seat at Höll's dining table. Walter and Sabine have already plonked themselves down anyway. When it comes to their favourite subject, work can take a break.
Walter, a pithy guy with the physique of a lumberjack, has raced with John Tomac and Jimmy Deaton. He could go on for hours about the legendary Downhill World Cup in Kaprun, where he raced down to the valley in 1992 with the courage of death. How he waited nine hours in the sweltering heat for his start. How he almost died of thirst and then still came three hundredth out of 1000 starters, after all. How he named his dog "Downhill" because he thought the sport was so cool and all those guys. Greg Herbold. Gerhard Zadrobilek. And above all, of course, Missy Giove.
"Do you know Missy Giove, Vali?" asks Walter, fully in his element. Vali shrugs her shoulders cluelessly: "Nah."
"She used to be the raddest downhiller, totally fearless. She wore a dried piranha around her neck!"
"Really? Cool!"
Walter and Sabine met on the ski slopes. As a mixed team, they agonised over the Alps in the BIKE Transalp Challenge. Daughter Vali was born on 11 February 2001. The biker couple became a biker family. It was basically the most natural thing in the world. Vali learnt to bike like other children learnt to walk. It had the effect of a booster that Saalbach Hinterglemm happened to be converted into a gigantic mountain bike adventure park at the same time. The trail network grew and grew. There were always races, festivals and events. The Hölls' Spielberghaus became a biker meeting point with its own pump track. As an eight-year-old, Vali took part in her first downhill race and won. At twelve, she went looking for sponsors with a folder she had made herself. All by herself. Without parents.
The many big names in the scene who stayed at the Spielberghaus had explained to her how self-promotion worked. However, nobody would have thought it possible that the YT company would immediately give her a six-year contract. The public outrage was huge. Childish dressage. Shameless PR greed. According to the complainers. Which is why Daniel Roos, a friend of the Hölls, made the film "How to be a MTB star" as a kind of counter-attack. In the film, Vali appears before her master in a chaste dirndl and asks: "Master, how do I become a mountain bike star?" The master, played in the finest B-movie style by Walter, shouts: "Strength! Stamina! Discipline! Loyalty! Speed! Blood! Sweat!" Then cut. Training scenes like from Rocky 4 and Karate Kid. Oh dear, you think, the poor kid! But suddenly: Vali, now in bike gear: "It's all rubbish. We just want to have fun!" Riding scenes, fluffy rock music, end credits. 7769 clicks on YouTube, 62 likes.
It sounds like the classic formula for success. Sports-mad parents with good contacts push their child to fame and rewards. But this case is different. It is the emotional power that Vali radiates that fascinates sponsors. This genuine, authentic glow for downhill sport. A discipline that is considered so daring and bone-breaking that almost only boys dare to take to the trails.
"Men, the stronger sex? What rubbish! They moan at the slightest cold."
Why do hardly any girls ride downhill?
Maybe because you get dirty very quickly? (laughs). No, I don't know, all the speed stuff, the rocks, the roots, that's certainly not everyone's cup of tea.
How do the boys react when you win against them?
Nobody talked to me at the beginning. I won, but the boys just high-fived each other. It's different now. After the race, we go for a chilled bike ride together or sit round the campfire.
Are you sometimes afraid?
No. Adrenalin is cool. But I don't drive hara-kiri like that. I don't like drops at all. I really shit myself.
Are boys more willing to take risks?
I think so. Flea, my mate who lives down in the village, totally switches his head off at the start. That's really cool.
Walter: Vali drives like a weasel. But men are the tougher sex.
Vali: What rubbish! Men moan about every little cold.
Sabine: Nothing bad has ever happened, but I can't watch the races. I can't cope with that. Once Vali had to go to hospital after a crash and the doctor said one of his kidneys was broken. I was completely devastated. Luckily it was just a bruise. But it does give you pause for thought.
Would it appeal to you to be the first woman at a major slopestyle event, Vali?
No, not at all. My mum wouldn't allow that either (squints at mum).
Why do you ride a mountain bike?
Because it's fun. And because of the people. All people who bike are cool.
Later that day, while Walter and Sabine are scurrying around again, Vali is standing in her nursery. Above the bed hangs a poster of freeride pro and hair extremist Rob J, with whom she was once madly in love, she confesses with a giggle. She fidgets a little. Then she takes out her smartphone and shows an email that she has been guarding like a treasure for months. It's a fan letter to her. From Rachel Atherton, the downhill heroine. Vali reads the lines aloud, as hippy as a girl with braces who has just got an autograph from her star. Oh God, how sweet! A normal teenager. So she is.
Info on mountain biker Vali Höll
The contract: The news of the six-year contract that bike manufacturer YT Industries signed with the then 13-year-old Vali last year made headlines. The details are being kept quiet. Only this much is known: Vali can let the contract lapse at any time and only has to be available for photo shoots.
Video: To take the mickey out of the criticism of her sponsorship deal, Vali made the video "How to be a MTB star" together with Daniel Roos - see below...
And what else? As there are hardly any young female downhill riders, Vali races in the boys' U15 class. She attends the sports high school in Saalfelden and trains almost daily at her local bike park in Saalbach Hinterglemm. https://bike.saalbach.com/de/bike
