Athletes’ retreat
Home base
Top international athletes at Das Central
Face to face with an Olympic medallist or a world champion. What is rather rare in everyday life happens quite often at Das Central.
Since its early years, the hotel has also been very popular with top international athletes. And not just in winter.
From the first woman to win the legendary Paris-Dakar Rally right through to powerful Handball Champions League winners and stars from the international ski circuit: The 5-star hotel Das Central in Sölden in Austria offers athletes the ambience they need to prepare for the next sporting challenge and can also be used as a relaxing retreat.
Knight of the rose
Throughout his life, senior director Hans “Buggls” Falkner stuck to Winston Churchill’s motto of “no sports”. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the excellence of top athletes. When Rosi Mittermaier won one of two gold medals at the 1976 Winter Olympics, Falkner congratulated her at the finish line with a bouquet of 100 red roses. “Moments like this remain unforgettable and symbolise the values that we get to experience again and again here,” say Rosi Mittermaier and Christian Neureuther. The parents of Felix Neureuther, who is also a former ski racer and currently a sports commentator on German television, can look back on a 50-year relationship with the hotel.
Rosi Mittermaier & Christian Neureuther
Logical development
The fact that national and international ski stars are regular guests in Sölden is also due to the optimal training conditions in the glacial ski region. In autumn in particular, the teams set up camp in Sölden ahead of the World Cup kick-off on the Rettenbach glacier. The athletes of the German Ski Association (DSV) were the first to take advantage of this benefit in the mid-1970s. And, as in the case with Christian Neureuther and Rosi Mittermaier, they were happy to choose Das Central as their training home base.
Like his parents, Felix Neureuther (right) has a close relationship with the hotel.
A home
For US athlete Bode Miller, Olympic champion and four-time world champion, Das Central represents a benchmark in terms of accommodation in his active career. “If I lived the way I did in Sölden all the time, then I wouldn’t need a motor home during the racing season,” the unconventional character sums up.
Masterful
The team of Hamburg’s handball sports club has spent many summers in Das Central for their high-altitude training camp. And this decision truly paid off, because after the first stay, the collective won the coveted Champions League trophy in 2013.
