Last weekend in Lillehammer, Julian Schmid continued the podium streak for the German combined athletes with two second places. But in his sport.de column, he revealed how difficult it was for the vice world champion at the World Cup stop in Norway – especially away from the ski jump and piste:
The journey to Lillehammer could hardly have started more bumpily. Our luggage didn’t arrive with us! The airline had failed to transport the suitcases from Ruka to Munich on time. Instead, everything was sent to our home without further ado – but unfortunately we couldn’t do much with it on site. So we found ourselves in Lillehammer with more questions than clothes.
“I still have a pair of socks twice. Who needs them?” – with these words David Mach opened the clothing exchange. “You could get underpants from me,” replied a teammate who did not want to be named; And the national coach was also spontaneously ready to give us his last shirt, so to speak.
Moments like this show how important team spirit is. We compared textile sizes, experienced a few surprises, helped each other out and gave each other a makeshift change of clothes. There was no talk of World Cup perfection, but we made the best of it. It felt like a little improvisation challenge: who has what, what suits who, and how can we somehow bring it all together? In the end it worked – and that’s what counts.
Despite these circumstances, I am extremely satisfied with my performance. The good start to the season continued. On both days of the competition I was able to jump and run to second place.
I’m particularly happy with how well my jump and my run worked together. Both went smoothly, and I’m grateful for that.
That gives self-confidence
My running partner Johannes Lamparter played a big part in this. We complemented each other perfectly, pushed each other and knew exactly what we wanted. Together we were able to get the most out of ourselves – a prime example of German-Austrian cooperation.
Sometimes it’s obviously the challenges outside of competitions that show you what you’re capable of. Despite the provisional equipment, we were able to deliver on the ski jump and on the cross-country ski trail. This gives you self-confidence and shows how much potential we have – even if everything doesn’t go smoothly.
We were able to set several exclamation marks at the start of the season and did so through several players in the team; We can now build on this and slowly improve towards the highlight of the season, the World Championships in Trondheim.
I’m looking forward to the next tasks and the return of my freshly washed clothes by my teammates.
Kind regards
Julian Schmid