It has been requested that I do a blog post in English about ski jumping, which is the in-season sport I follow by far the most right now. I'm not sure I know enough about it for my musings to be of any general interest, but here goes.
I wanted to do a preview of the Mühlenkopf weekend in Willingen, as I am going myself, and I am really excited about that. Then I realized that it takes place in a little over two weeks, and one of the appeals of ski jumping is that the face of the competition may change in a split second. Ask Tom Hilde, the pre-season spearhead of the Norwegian squad, and he'll confirm his plans for the Four Hills tournament changed rather quickly when he crashed in Oberstdorf in the dying days of 2011.
So I'll do my preview of the Willingen weekend when I've packed for the trip.
Now, I'll take up the idea from fisskijumpingworldcup.com and write something like a midseason report of the World Cup calendar. In their report, they've chosen to look at what is new this season, compared to seasons past. As I am relatively new to this sport, and it's the first World Cup season I follow closely, I instead focus on five key elements of the World Cup season so far. In random order, here are five key observations I've made this season:
1. Land of the Schwarzenegger
The Austrians have dominated. It seems a rather simple observation, but in several competitions we have seen double, or even triple Austrian victories. Before the season I expected Thomas Morgenstern to be the front-runner for overall World Cup victory, but he has had a difficult season, and from the get-go in Kuusamo, Andreas Kofler appears to have taken a step up this year, and he now looks difficult to beat in the overall competition. Especially since Schlierenzauer, who lately has looked better than Kofler, has chosen to skip this weekend's competition in Sapporo. Kofler was the best jumper early on this season, and now he has to hold on in order to confirm his breakthrough, and I believe he will.
How come Kofler is that good this year? He is a former Four Hills winner, of course, but this season he is exceptionally good at the push-off from the run-in (according to Bjørn Einar Romøren, with whom I exchanged some tweets on the subject last week), and he's been consistent compared to many of the others. Schlierenzauer, in fact, is the only one who has been comparable to Kofler in consistency (and he lost 100 points on that rather harsh disqualification in Kulm). And the only non-Austrian, crucially, who has shown some consistency is Anders Bardal. Look at the overall standings in the World Cup: It's Österreich, män!
2. Hannawald Revisited
OK, the title of this paragraph is a stretch, but the essence is that a strong new generation of German jumpers are on their way to the elite. To join the Austrians, as it is right now, but Germany is an important country to have in ski jumping: Many of the most important hills are in Germany, and the crowds get bigger if they can rally around local favorites. Plus, of course, one cannot be blind to the fact that Germany is Europe's biggest market, and that ski jumping has never been as popular and visible in the media as during Germany's Hannawald craze back in 2001-2002. Ski jumping was everywhere: Cereal boxes, chewing gum wrappers, you name it. And that kind of attention is good for any sport.
Ski jumping is popular every year in Germany, but this year it has gotten more attention because of the success of Severin Freund and his younger teammate who projects to have a sky-high ceiling, Richard Freitag. Freitag has already won one competition this year and finished high up in the rankings several times, and he seems like the heir apparent to the throne left vacant when Hannawald quit the sport. And with Hannawald's teammate Martin Schmitt apparently on his way out of ski jumping, a group of other young Germans are ready to shine: Both Andreas Wank and Michael Neumayer have shown potential this year, and I believe Germany is ready to challenge Austria as the top nation in ski jumping again.
(My apologies to Norway, who boasts a great group of jumpers, but in Hilde's absence, none of the youngsters has quite the potential of a Freund or a Freitag; Rune Velta and Atle Rønsen have had good jumps, but at the same time Romøren and Evensen are having horrible seasons).
3. Stoch's Reprieve
As I wrote in a Danish-language blog post a couple weeks ago, I was really disappointed in Kamil Stoch's failure to finish what would have been a breakthrough win at Innsbruck. It seemed like Stoch's nerves got the better of him in the razor-sharp end game against Kofler and Schlierenzauer. Kofler in particular has been able to elevate his game in the final rounds this year, and it is necessary to do that if you want to belong to those selected few jumpers who can be counted on to jump consistently at the highest level. Kamil Stoch made it to the big scene last season, but he looked like he couldn't close the deal in a high-pressure situation.
Then came Zakopane last weekend, and there he was again, Kamil Stoch, in a situation where he could get a win he wanted really bad - on his home turf - if he could ace his final jump. He did just that, and the relief and exhilaration were visible in the normally stoic Pole. I saw Stoch's final jump again on YouTube, with Polish commentators, and although I don't understand Polish, I could make out the name 'Adam Malysz', that legendary Polish ski jumper who ended his career last season, and for whom Stoch is expected to take over, and to whom he is constantly compared. At Zakopane, Stoch got another chance to prove he should belong in the elite few, and he took it.
Sure, as skijumpingworldcup.com notes, Central Europe has produced more jumpers who have had solid results this year, like Lukas Hlava, Roman Koudelka, and Stoch's compatriot Piotr Zyla. But none of them, and perhaps no one in the World Cup field, at least outside of Schlierenzauer and Freitag, has the potential, the upside of Kamil Stoch. Now, in the second half of this season, he must cash in on that potential, and jump like the world class jumper he is.
4. Heavy Weather
Yeah, I'll be brief here, because there is not much to say about one of the most important participants of this season (save perhaps for Gregor Schlierenzauer's zipper!), namely the weather. The wind, occasionally the snow, and quite often lack thereof, have been factors at all levels of ski jumping competitions this year (granted, women's competitions have suffered more than the men's). Here's to hoping it will be better in the second half - - and definitely at Willingen!
5. Soarin' Sarah
The Let Women Jump movement won its cause recently, and the ladies will jump at the 2014 Winter Olympics . And what an argument they have made for their cause this season, the first one with a World Cup for the ladies. It's not like there has been any doubt as to who the best jumper is. Or the most promising talent. They're both the same: 17-year-old Sarah Hendrickson of Park City, Utah (USA). But it's been fun to watch, and what a ride this season has been for young Sarah already: Recently, in Predazzo, she tied the hill record (set by Adam Malysz!) on saturday, and then came back sunday and jumped half a meter longer! The ladies' competition has plenty of interesting personalities, like Norwegians Line Jahr and Anette Sagen, Melanie Faisst of Germany and pre-season favorite Daniela Iraschko (Austria), who has been a consistent second in World Cup events. So it's not like the competition is weak, by no means, but Sarah Hendrickson has dominated ladies' ski jumping this year. Last weekend she even won an event on the Continental Cup, keeping her skis flying before the next World Cup event. In the overall classification, Hendrickson has a nearly insurmountable lead over Iraschko, and she figures to be a leading lady of ski jumping for many years to come.
Allright, those were my five impressions of the ski jumping season so far. There have been more, of course, but I have to limit myself, lest my blog posts get too wordy.
Does this mean I'll write the ProzessTrainer blog posts in English from now on? No. I'll mix posts in Danish and English, but I'll also be sure to tag posts in the appropriate language to facilitate this hybrid.
Please leave comments if you have had other impressions of the ski jumping season, and let's get a discussion going!
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