... Thomas Öhler, 25: The Austrian sports student and new BikeTrial world champion on talent, Japanese hospitality – and why he already knew in spring that he’d win the title.

Congratulations on your WC title, Thomas. Which part did your talent, which your training diligence and which part did your form on the day play?

All three things have to come together. The basis of our sport is of course talent. You need a perfect feeling of balance and a huge fine mechanical talent. Apart from having great skill, you also have to train well-founded basic stamina. After all, we have to ride the ten sections twice and can hardly afford to make one single mistake.

At the deciding event in Japan you were anything but happy with the external conditions – a slippery natural course, which you even slid into a river off. How did you clinch the victory despite this?

Firstly because of my focused preparation. The week before the event I flew to England especially, where the conditions were similar to Itadori, and I was able to prepare myself for bad weather and slippery obstacles. Secondly, because of the serial number on my helmet: it reads 108 – which is why I’ve known since spring that I’d be No. 1 in ’08 ...

This year the World Cup was decided in Itadori for the 27th time. It felt like you were already afflicted by disastrous thunderstorms 26 times. Can we deduce from that that trial bikers an exceptionally loyal folk and don’t particularly enjoy big changes?

The main reason for that is that our president is Japanese, that’s why Itadori is a traditional event. But we had some nice weather a couple of times – and in any case, the event is not only interesting from a sporting point of view. All participants stay with host families. So we also get to learn a little about Japanese culture and the unique hospitality of the country.
Thomas Öhler
Thomas Öhler
Thomas Öhler
Thomas Öhler