[ad_1]
It wasn’t until Wednesday that the medical department gave Kraft the green light. In Schlierenzauer, Aschenwald and Hayböck, the inscription came earlier. They have all won the race against time so far, but it is far from clear what feats renowned airmen are capable of. Head coach Andreas Widhölzl only wants to nominate his four World Cup starters after the two training sessions on Thursday.
Despite the loss of substance during the mandatory CoV hiatus, Kraft decided to start. “I don’t want to stay home any longer and watch the World Cup on TV knowing that I could really be there. I am too passionate about my sport and, in particular, ski flying, ”said the current world record holder (253.5 m). With only seven winter breaks and many question marks, you are on the flying hill.
“The medals are at the bottom”
Widhölzl breathed a sigh of relief upon his return. The Tyrolean headed to Slovenia “with a positive feeling” but refrained from aiming for the medals. “Our approach is more like ‘anything is possible’, but the favorites are definitely different,” Widhölzl told the APA. “Our preparation was not optimal. The medals are in the background, the focus should be on your own strengths. “
The bad omens for the first main course of the season are also homemade in the case of the Austrians. Eight more Widhölzl jumpers had been infected with the corona virus since late November. More recently at Nizhny Tagil, Daniel Huber, who has provided the two individual podiums for the ÖSV this World Cup season, also caught him. Already at the weekend the World Cup start was safe for the last Austrian who had the best form and tested positive in Russia.
Critical views of the competition
Even if things are going well at the World Cup: the Austrian team is now being viewed critically by the competition. Most of the other major nations do not yet have a CoV case. This also includes the Germans, whose top leader Markus Eisenbichler said on the dominant issue: “If they do not comply with the measures as we do, then it is also a bit of negligence on the part of others, because they pay very little attention or not comply with hygiene concepts, or have other hygiene concepts. “
Widhölzl did not want those comments to be related to the ÖSV team. “I won’t let it occur to us that we would be careless or not stick with concepts. I can only say that we really wanted to always stick to the concepts, ”said the former world-class jumper. “It may just be during the incubation period that people slide through. You have a team of 15 people, I cannot forbid them to have contact with the families. “
To avoid other teams and guests, they moved into their own home at the Summer Grand Prix in Wisla. “We did it again in winter and we had our own cook with us. We had our own house where there was no one else, a house with many individual rooms, ”explained Widhölzl.
Schlierenzauer bets on routine
For the seventh time, the Slovenian city near the Austrian border is hosting the world championships. So far, the ÖSV eagles have flown four medals on Letalnica Hill, two in each of the individual and team competitions that have only been held since 2004. After gold for Armin Kogler in 1979, Schlierenzauer won the silver there in 2010 behind the Swiss Simon Ammann.
Ten years later, Ammann skipped title fights for lack of form, and Schlierenzauer is not a favorite either. The world cup record winner in flying skiing (14 wins) has recovered from his illness, but got to the heart of the problem: “Now it’s more or less from the bed straight into one of the biggest ski jumps. of the world”. The veteran waited based on his experience. , “That I can still start off pretty good.”
Aschenwald has the most leg jumps of the best people in Austria. “In my opinion, I have enough snow jumps, you can’t train to fly ski anyway. Everybody starts from scratch, so it’s a matter of getting closer ”. He saw his low expectations as an advantage. “Maybe that will bring the ease we need and the result will be really casual flights.”
Favorites come from Norway and Germany
With the Norwegians supervised by the Tyrolean Alexander Stöckl, the bar is much higher. They provide a three-time winner of the season in Halvor Egner Granerud. There are also men with proven flying qualities: Robert Johansson is the national record holder (252m) and has already been on the podium twice this year. With Daniel-Andre Tande, the 2018 Oberstdorf world champion is also there.
In the German team, hopes mainly rest on Eisenbichler. If the two-time season winner hadn’t had a strong gust of wind recently, he probably would have traveled to the championships as the World Cup leader. The Bavarian just wants to show jumps like last time. “Then the others will have a hard time.” The record holder for the hill is Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi, who landed after 252 meters in 2019.
Are those distances possible again in the Letalnica-Bakken? The December schedule after the cancellation last March is unusual for Planica and should have an impact on thermals. A tailwind is likely. Therefore, the coach of Norway is skeptical: “The temperatures are lower and the air much denser than in spring. Also, people haven’t done a lot of big hill jumps yet, ”Stöckl said.
Ski Flight World Championship in Planica
Program (starts at 4 pm, live on ORF1):
- Thursday: qualifying
- Friday: First and second rounds of singles
- Saturday: 3rd and 4th individual rounds
- Sunday: First and second team rounds
ÖSV Lineup:
- Stefan kraft
- Gregor Schlierenzauer
- Michael Hayboeck
- Philipp aschenwald
- Clemens leitner
- Timon-Pascal Kahofer
