For Andreas Wellinger and his ski jumping colleagues, qualifying for the New Year’s competition has become an unexpectedly strenuous affair.
Because the lift in the tower of the large Olympic ski jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen was broken, the majority of jumpers had to walk up on Sunday – with 332 steps, that was quite an impressive warm-up program.
“It’s via the stairs, just like before,” said the stadium spokesman. However, athletes did have support on the way to the 62 m high ski jump head: happily motivated children carried the jump skis up.