The ski jumpers started the new World Cup season last weekend. In his sport.de column, Karl Geiger reports on the first stop in Lillehammer, Norway.
Sections of forest, fields and small towns pass us by – everything is just covered by a fine blanket of snow. We sit in large coaches that the organizers have provided and that take us across the country from Lillehammer to Falun.
Six hours of travel lie ahead of us in the shuttle from jump to jump. We sit together with Slovenian, Swiss, Austrian and Finnish jumpers, which enables one or two conversations with the foreign athletes – a short trip with the ski jumping family from the large winter sports city in Norway to the Swedish ski jumps in the ancient mining town of Falun.
The World Cup has started and with it the Olympic season, the first three competitions are behind us. The ski jumper’s daily task of adapting to the rule changes and synchronizing your own jumping system with the innovations was once again served to us in Norway. The jumps weren’t easy for me; I had to fight for every meter of distance.
On the one hand, it’s not a new situation at the start of the season, but on the other hand, it really doesn’t seem easy to get the processes in the right direction now. We were given homework, and it was extensive. You now have to set out to break down the jump itself into its details and see which corrections are effective.
I am now practiced at tackling such challenges with a steady hand and a cool head. Patience and confidence have been my companions for years anyway and my experience shows me that things can change quickly.
What helps are the successes of the young guard, while the top performers of the last few years now have to reflect: Raimund Philipp and Felix Hoffmann were able to carry their good performances from the Summer Grand Prix and the subsequent season preparation courses into the winter and deliver a real double blow on Sunday. Felix was able to celebrate his greatest success with a podium finish, which made me happy for him. Both jumper colleagues appear to be compatible with the new requirements with their jumping systems; Their successes bring calm to the team, in which Andreas Wellinger, Pius Paschke and I can and should work with concentration.
Tomorrow in Falun there will be the next chance to generate more space and a better result by changing smaller things.
We are currently crossing the border with Sweden; The World Cup opening is now finally behind me and I’m looking forward. The little red Swedish houses Falun are slowly coming, here we come!
Kind regards
Karl Geiger