In addition to the overall World Cup leader Pius Paschke, Gregor Deschwanden is the biggest surprise among the world’s best this ski jumping winter. In an interview with sport.de, the Swiss revealed how his top form affects interest in him, where it actually comes from and why the world’s best is getting older and older.
Gregor Deschwanden had to be 33 years old to finally reach the shape of his life. With two second places in Wisła, Titisee-Neustadt and a third place at his home World Cup in Engelberg, he has already achieved more podium finishes this winter than in his entire previous career. He is in fifth place in the overall World Cup, and he also has a chance of winning the title in the Four Hills Tournament – something that no Swiss has ever achieved to date – as he is sixth before the New Year’s competition.
In conversation with sport.de In Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Swiss reveals how he got into top shape, how this affects interest in him and why the world’s top ski jumpers are getting older.
Mr. Deschwanden, you seem to have the fewest media inquiries to deal with among the current tour candidates. Is this impression misleading?
Gregor Deschwanden: I’ll put it this way: There are two or three more interviews for international media than I’m used to. In Switzerland it’s very manageable; at least they sent a television reporter. But that alone is a nice appreciation because it means that my achievements mean that jumping is actually broadcast on TV. Otherwise it would probably only run in the live stream or not at all. I perceive that the Swiss are happy that one of them is jumping against all the Austrians.
You repeatedly indicated in the preseason that you could jump to the front if everything went right for you. Now they are consistently at the front and already have more podium places than in the past combined. Where does this continuity come from for you?
Last season I had a good start and then struggled a lot between the tour and February. And this summer I had exactly the same problem and then found the solution. My biggest mistake was that I always had my center of gravity too far back in the approach position and then my upper body fell forward when I jumped off. And now I have found a solution that almost always works. And once you have this idea, it works much better.
So are you living proof that good ski jumps actually depend on a functioning approach position?
Not always. The self-confidence comes from the top ten placements and with this confidence you jump much more actively and march out at the top of the take-off table. This is a big factor that should not be underestimated. Every ski jumper has one main flaw that he must eliminate. But if you have the solution and can avoid it 90 to 95 percent, that automatically gives you more consistency. And you don’t have different construction sites in every jump.
At 33 years old, you also contribute to the fact that the age of the world’s top ski jumpers has continued to rise. How can it be explained that the average age of top athletes is getting older and older?
Part of this is that those who are currently ahead have also been ahead for the last five years. With them, the world’s top players have grown older; that’s a maturing process. But now there are also the jumpers who haven’t had great successes in the past, but who are and remain a little hungrier as a result. Pius Paschke and I are just two examples. He has now even celebrated victories and realized that he can do it on his own and doesn’t need a team jump to do it.
Deschwanden admits: “There was a point where I didn’t believe in myself anymore”
Comparing the structures between Germany and Switzerland is certainly difficult. But you both also benefit from the fact that the respective association has stuck with you, right?
In Switzerland, young athletes have certainly not been supported as much as they needed. That’s why there was a ten-year gap between the successful era of Simon Ammann and Andreas Küttel. Simon is ten years older than me and there were jumpers between the two of us who could have become something. But they weren’t held on to as much as they needed to be because they didn’t get started at 18.
For me personally, all I can say is that I always had the feeling that the coaches believed in me. Even more than I believed in myself. There was a point where I didn’t believe in myself anymore. But that’s also normal if you always put everything into it and in the end you have the feeling that it doesn’t work out.
In this sense, did the personnel change come at the right time for you?
I wouldn’t say that, things were going quite well under Ronny Hornschuh too. But with Rune Velta and the new discipline boss Joel Biri, many things were decided proactively and courageously. In the beginning, the budget for our suit boss was not what it is today. But then they said that they were investing and no longer said, ‘We’ve always done it this way, we’re sticking with it.’ Sometimes it takes decisions like that to make other things happen. You also have to invest in the right place.
When it comes to investment, one thing stands out: So far, no one has apparently invested in the advertising space on your helmet, even though you are currently the fifth best ski jumper in the world. How can that be?
There are already offers, so I have hopes that something will happen during or after the tour. But I also attach importance to the fact that it is someone who invests in it for the long term and not just now because things are going very well.