Ski jumper Karl Geiger has had an unusual season so far. After poor results at the start of the season, he is now even taking part in the Italian championships in order to finally put his low form behind him before the Four Hills Tournament. In his sport.de column, Karl Geiger looks at the coming days.
If you had told me before the start of the season that I would be taking part in the Italian championship with Andreas Wellinger the day before Christmas and would finish fourth in the international field, I would probably have looked more than disbelieving.
But as part of our special shifts before the Four Hills Tournament, there are the strangest developments, which, on closer inspection, are not that surprising – there is a sense in everything!
After training in Oberstdorf, it was now important that we test the improvements that we were able to develop at home on other ski jumps with different formats and characteristics. As a result, we packed our bags again to host our special training in Planica, Slovenia, and Predazzo, Italy.
In Planica we were able to jump again on a large hill and in Predazzo we were able to practice switching to a normal hill with a tailwind.
The results in the Valley of the Ski Jumps and also in Italy have shown that we are on the right track.
A special feature was that we were allowed to jump the upcoming Olympic ski jump in Predazzo again and this after further changes had been made to it.
During the dress rehearsal with the entire women’s and men’s field of participants, there was harsh international criticism of the ski jump due to injuries to athletes, so that the Italian Olympic organizers felt compelled to make modifications and adjustments.
The units in Predazzo therefore had a double effect: to generally assert oneself on a difficult hill format and at the same time to complete preparatory training for the Olympic competitions.
After training, of course, you have to test yourself in competition and so Andreas and I were offered the opportunity to take part in the Italian championships; There was an international field of jumpers, the competition conditions were good and the German duo also achieved respectable successes with second and fourth places.
Stepping out of the World Cup and choosing your own path to prepare for the Four Hills Tournament was the right decision; It enabled us to deal with the errors in the flight system in a very close and compact manner and to set the course for an optimized jump system.
We soak up the atmosphere in Predazzo, pack our things and drive back home.
Now it’s Christmas – the training and travel were exhausting, the quiet days are now necessary to recharge the empty batteries in every way, to regenerate physically and to mentally focus on what lies ahead, namely the opening jump of the Four Hills Tournament in my home country, which I’m really looking forward to!
Kind regards
Karl Geiger