Germany’s best ski jumper Karl Geiger was not able to join the world elite at the Four Hills Tournament. In his column for sport.de, the DSV-Adler gives an insight into how he dealt with the disappointments.
Ascent to the Nebelhorn. Luisa adjusts her ski goggles, gets her skis on her feet for the first time and is pushed back and forth between Franzi and me. The sun is shining in Oberstdorf, there has been a bit of snow in the mountains again after the valley and the surrounding mountains had become greener and greener during the weeks of the tour.
We are out in nature with our daughter and enjoy the peace and quiet after this very turbulent Four Hills Tournament.
The events have somehow rolled over and literally carried away the Germany team. If the start in Oberstdorf with 6th and 4th place for Andreas Wellinger and I could still be seen as a good basis for the entire tour and my 11th place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen was still within a good level, the black day came for me Innsbruck, which didn’t let me into the competition – failed in the qualification, didn’t climb Bergisel, the drop in the overall ranking.
After that you get a little out of joint, everyone in the team had problems calling up their potential – with the exception of one, of course. Philipp Raimund did a very good job as a young jumper and Four Hills Tournament debutant. I take my hat off to that.
For the rest of the team it was and still is to press the “reset button” to rebuild. The best way to do this is to calm down first and distance yourself from the things that have worn you down on site. For me, this meant coming home, putting the phone down, spending time with the family and watching my little daughter make her first turns on skis.
The calm did me good and, above all, enabled me to forget what was lying behind me and to look ahead. I recharged my batteries for three days so that I now have a clear compass in my head again.
The team will now search and train for ski jumps in the snow. We will focus on jumping, trying adjustments to improve jumping performance. I’m still of the opinion that there are only a few optimizations, but that’s ski jumping; Little things can make meters.
None of the team sticks their heads in the sand here, but we’ve all been through valleys before and know how to get out of them. Ski jumping is work and the “good jump” has to be worked on anew every season.
Best regards
Karl Geiger