Kilian Albrecht will ski for Austria, not United Arab Emirates

Kilian Albrecht will ski for Austria, not United Arab Emirates{mosimage}Kilian Albrecht will ski for Austria again after his bid to represent the United Arab Emirates failed.

The 32-year-old Albrecht, a slalom specialist, lost his spot on the Austrian team in spring and had applied to ski for the UAE. But the world’s ski governing body, the FIS, rejected his application.

“Kilian approached us. He wanted to start for Dubai, but that proved impossible. Therefore, he asked us to give him a second chance and we did just that,” Austria’s alpine ski team boss, Hans Pum, said Thursday.

Pum said Albrecht will ski in the World Cup slaloms at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, and Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

“Then we will analyze his results and decide on the future,” Pum said.

Albrecht missed out on an Olympic bronze medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games by 0.04 seconds.

– The Associated Press