Karl Geiger has already celebrated great successes at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica. In his column for sport.de, the ski jumper reviewed his jumps.
The “Ski Jumping” section got off to an unexpected start at the World Championships: silver and bronze in the men’s individual competition on the normal hill, gold on the women’s normal hill, both in the individual by Katharina Althaus and for the team; as the “icing on the cake” the gold medal with the mixed team, with which the title could be defended.
In particular, I myself could not really believe that I would win a medal on the normal hill. I knew the hill from the summer and found it difficult even then. I went to the training sessions with that impression and it was reinforced after the jumps.
I then sat down with Stefan Horngacher for a long time and we meticulously analyzed the videos of my jumps. When a national coach was a top jumper himself, we discussed at eye level: we philosophized about which parts of the jump should be changed, weighed things up, reflected and then developed ideas.
In the jump to qualifying, I realized that we had chosen the right approach. My credo was: stay focused, don’t think about the past, deliver two jumps as best as possible and nothing else. The weather and wind conditions repeatedly proved to be a hindrance to the course of the competition – interruptions were the constant companions of the athletes.
The first run took me to 100 meters and third place, in front of me were only the Austrian Stefan Kraft and Andreas Wellinger, behind me were many athletes who have been decisive throughout the season to this day: Granerud, Kubacki, Lanisek – I was obviously where the music was playing and on a day like this that’s all that matters!
The success gave me mental strength for the four-way battle at the top. The second round brought a big surprise. The Pole Zyla, who was also the defending champion, ignited a real “rocket” with which he catapulted himself to first place. Nobody could get close to Zyla and then only the top three were actually on top. My jump was solid, but I still had to line up behind Zyla. I was left with the prospect of silver, bronze and wood.
Andreas Wellinger made a good jump and overtook me. Only the strong Stefan Kraft was now up – in my mind’s eye I was standing a meter from the podium. Kraft jumped and actually looked quite good, looking at the computer was probably just routine. No-all back, strength gossamer fourth, bronze medal hanging around my neck!
The Sunday mixed jumping was then a competition like clockwork – all starters already had precious metal and we developed a great dynamic as a team: gold!
After a small celebration with schnitzel and darts, we will enjoy the rest day to be well prepared for the second week.
Best regards
Karl Geiger