Martin Schmitt won Olympic gold with the team in Salt Lake City in 2002, collected a total of four world championship titles and won the overall World Cup twice. In short: The 48-year-old is one of the most dazzling figures in German ski jumping history. Schmitt now looked at the past winter.
“It was a difficult season, also because of the rule changes last spring,” is how German ski jumping legend Martin Schmitt summed up the past season in an interview with the Polish newspaper “Fakt”.
Schmitt’s statement specifically refers to the Polish team, which suffered its weakest performance in the World Cup in 17 years, but was one of the big winners at the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo with two silver and one bronze medals. However, Schmitt also emphasizes that the new rules have posed a major challenge across countries, especially for older athletes who have been jumping for a long time.
A jumper who doesn’t fit into this category at all is Kacper Tomasiak. The 19-year-old surprised at the Olympic Games when he won silver on the normal hill and in the super team as well as bronze on the large hill. As “Fakt” writes, Schmitt had already said before the games that he believed in a Polish surprise.
Polish ski jumping faces a “promising future”
“I thought it was possible, but unlikely. And he did it. His performance at the Olympic Games was simply incredible,” said the German, confronted with his former statement. Preparing for a new season in which there will suddenly be expectations of him is also new territory for Tomasiak, but the youngster is “mentally strong” and he has absolute confidence in him to compete for podium places throughout the entire season next winter, said Schmitt.
Overall, Schmitt encourages the Poles. “I see a promising future for you,” said Schmitt.