Unhoped doesn’t come too often. That’s why this medal, even if it didn’t turn out to be gold, has a special shine for the late developer Karl Geiger. With third place in the large hill competition, the man from Oberstdorf taught everyone else who wanted to write him off (too) early in his career, which took a long time to get going.
His happy ending gave the ski jumping team an emotional boost, so that the quartet of the German Ski Association (DSV) also ended their stay in China this Monday (12.00 p.m. CEST in the FAZ live ticker for the Olympics, in ARD and on Eurosport). want to compete as a team for landing on the podium.
Geiger’s strong nerves and Markus Eisenbichler’s improvement in form, who finished fifth on the large hill, raise hopes. “It’s a salvation,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher on Saturday. “We’ve had tough days. Today was an important competition. It was the question of whether we can turn the corner. We turned the corner.” And Geiger, who will compete in the team competition together with Eisenbichler, Constantin Schmid and Stephan Leyhe, said: “It will be important for me on Monday. I want to show the very best jumps at the Olympics.”
All’s well that ends well? Things are not that simple in the ski jumping division of the DSV, which has formed a special unit in the association that has been accustomed to success in recent years.
Keep refining the details
Under the expert Horngacher, who was appointed national coach almost three years ago, the results were right on the way to Beijing for a long time. Until recently, the Germans were among the most consistent distance hunters in the industry; Regular podium places in the World Cup, which Geiger leads in the yellow jersey, are an indication that the quality of the teamwork meets the highest standards.
Sovereignty, self-confidence and certainty of victory, all elementary prerequisites for throwing yourself downhill at 90 kilometers an hour, have to be worked out again and again in detail in ski jumping. One of Horngacher’s strengths is his sensitive way of leading people, with which he dissolves mental blocks in such a way that his athletes can access their physical potential.
After the games, however, there will be a discussion about what Horngacher and the DSV trainers’ guild can do better when the youngsters make the transition from the elite schools to the World Cup. Talents who aim for the top and increase internal competition are too seldom seen among Germans.
The squad available to Horngacher in Beijing is showing its age. The average age is 28.4. The former top people who stayed at home, Andreas Wellinger and Severin Freund, are still part of the staff that was discovered a decade ago by Horngacher’s predecessor Werner Schuster.
Geiger’s feat at the weekend was a respectable result that calmed the nerves of everyone involved – and gave a form of tailwind to which, for once, they had no objection. Looking ahead, it seems clear where the national coach has to start: The future also belongs to young people in ski jumping. When will she be more involved with a view to the 2026 Winter Games in Milan? Karl Geiger is the best example of how time is needed after initial setbacks.