Karl Geiger is also the great hope in German ski jumping in 2022/2023. In his column at sport.de he writes about his 30th day of honor.
Celebrating my 30th birthday in a legendary place like Lake Placid, one of three places in the world where the Winter Olympics have been held twice, is a special experience, although of course I would have loved to celebrate the day of honor with my loved ones. But as a winter sports enthusiast, of course, you can’t choose things during the season, you have to jump where and when you are waved off.
In 1932 and 1980 Lake Placid hosted athletes from all over the world and it’s not very often for a contemporary World Cup jumper to come across a hill that he hasn’t jumped yet. Curiosity and a little tension were the companions before we started the first on-site training.
The arrival of the German national team was chosen in such a way that we were able to do some training on the hill, which was new for us, before the competition. You had to approach this task and try to “read” the hill as quickly as possible and as well as necessary; I managed this quite well and I had the feeling that I could handle the hill better from jump to jump.
Then came the competitions and I can anticipate it: these jumps were the best birthday present I could give myself. 8th place and 4th place in the individual competitions are impressive and I am more than satisfied with the second jump in the second competition; if I manage to pull off such jumps more consistently than in the immediate past, I will be well prepared for the world championships in Slovenia.
The positive developments were then rounded off by the premiere of a new competition format, the so-called super team competition, which the women had already held for the first time in Japan. In this format, only two ski jumpers per team compete and perform a real elimination jump against the competitors in three rounds, in which the field of participants is reduced from round to round.
To be honest, I haven’t been able to form a final opinion on this type of competition. A negative aspect from the athletes’ point of view is that only two jumpers from one nation can start at a time. The elimination mode is certainly an exciting aspect in itself and the format is so tightly scheduled that we jumpers are constantly moving from the outrun to the hill. I’m curious about the reactions of the spectators on the hills and in front of the television sets. The response from the audience will be a decisive criterion as to whether this format will have a future.
Best regards
Karl