Ski jumpers on the up: Andreas Welliger – fought back from the bottom

Status: 10/28/2022 1:41 p.m

After bankruptcies, bad luck and breakdowns, Andreas Wellinger was the winner on the podium at the German Championships. Gold had hinted, was not a flash in the pan and gives hope for the season.

Andreas Wellinger, sunny boy in the German ski jumping team, had stopped laughing in recent years. His odyssey began in June 2019. The cruciate ligament in his right knee tore during training. He missed the whole season, came back anything but stable in the following one. Wellinger was looking for form, never found it and was just a spectator at the home World Cup. In September 2021 he injured himself again and was also deprived of the Olympics by a corona infection.

Gold six months after meniscus surgery

And the bad luck with injuries didn’t seem to end. In the spring he was under the knife again. This time the meniscus was patched. Giving up was not an option for the 27-year-old, who is a two-time Olympic and world champion.

Winter sports will also return to the sports show on Saturday. The World Cup season in Wisla begins for the ski jumpers.

He fought back and is currently training with Eisenbichler and Geiger “the pace” (Trainer Stefan Horngacher) before. Horngacher, the Austrian national coach of the Germans, praised Wellinger in an interview with Sportschau: “He’s doing very well. He’s fit again and looking good.” Wellinger won double gold at the German Championships in Hinterzarten in mid-October. First individually, then as a team. He has never been so good at national championships.

New ways with the material

The path that Wellinger has taken with the material is also unique. The 2018 Olympic champion has been strapping on skis from the “Van Deer Red Bull Sports“. Behind it is the company Red Bull, which also has branches in football and Formula 1. “Competitive sport is about further development. I wanted to change something after last season and went into the material tests with an open mind. The tests showed that the performance of the new material from Van Deer-Red Bull Sports is really strong.”Wellinger justified his step.

Hirscher founded the company

Former Alpine ski ace Marcel Hirscher founded the company, originally only called Van Deer, last year and announced at the time that he would stir up the ski circus: “Good is not good enough for us. In everything we do, we always go one step further”, announced Hirscher. Van Deer has been working with Red Bull since the summer.

Marcel Hirscher: Once a successful ski racer, now he wants to start as an entrepreneur.

Talent Raimund makes it into the A-Team

Wellinger should help the new slats on the way to the top of the world. Another German is just beginning his career in the World Cup. Philipp Raimund has earned a place in the A-Team with strong jumps and can hope for regular appearances in the concert of the best. “He has developed well and is on the right track”, says Horngacher, who attests to the great potential of the 22-year-old and is happy that a young athlete has been successfully integrated into the team. Raimund has been close to the team a few times in the past, but did not make the final leap into the World Cup team. In 2019 he celebrated his premiere at the Four Hills Tournament (34th in Oberstdorf/39th in Garmisch-Partenkirchen). He was also allowed to get a taste of World Cup air in Titisee-Neustadt in 2020 and 2022. Now the man from Oberstdorf is well on the way to becoming a fixture in Stefan Horngacher’s team.

Mats instead of artificial snow? Artificial snow is used in many ski jumping competitions. An expensive and environmentally harmful option. New mats could be the solution.

Preparation almost effortless

The pre-season didn’t just run smoothly for Raimund. The DSV-Adler were able to train almost without any complications and were spared injuries and unforeseeable forced breaks due to the weather. “We could do anything we wanted 92 percent of the time”, said the coach satisfied. Now it’s about fine-tuning to get into the competitions well. The first World Cup test is already coming up in Wisla on the first weekend in November. Then the ski jumpers jump on mats for points in the World Cup for the first time (in the live ticker on sportschau.de).

In Kuusamo, the sky is the limit. In the Finnish city, ski jumpers are fighting for the first World Cup points. Which athlete will secure a place on the podium?

The ski jumping elite will meet in Wisla, Poland, for the start of the World Cup. The women are the first to dare to jump off the ski jump.

The Day of Ski Jumping Talents took place in Baden-Württemberg. Young and old alike could experience the feeling of flying.

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