Correspondence from the Four Hills Tournament
Are you following the Four Hills Tournament?
NO. It’s true that I watched the competition in Oberstdorf, but yesterday (we talked on Monday – editor’s note) I was snowboarding at that time.
So they jump at your place in Innsbruck and you choose snowboarding. Are you a little offended by jumping?
I wasn’t offended, but after so many years I’m just a bit fed up with this sport. It’s all very repetitive. I moved on to other things. Jumping is not the only option in life.
Continuation of the material below the video
So what do you do?
Right after I left the union, I started a company. I produce films, e.g. from sporting events, I also shoot music videos… This year I will work as a cameraman at the Bormio Olympics for the official broadcaster. I will be involved in ski mountaineering and men’s alpine skiing.
Is working at the Olympics a great distinction, just like in sports?
Certainly a bigger camera and more responsibility.
We are talking just before the competition in Bischofshofen. On the one hand, this is probably where one of the worst memories of your life comes from, i.e. the accident, but also one of the best memories of jumping. Your second appearance in the World Cup and you immediately took sixth place.
I was a teenager then, 16 years old! Suddenly my name appeared among the biggest stars. I really liked the evening competitions, and the hill in Bischofshofen was always favorable to me, although it was difficult for many people. Not everyone was able to get there. It was always easier for me on this hill, I had good feeling there.
This result was not a big surprise for the community. You already won a silver medal at the Junior World Championships as a 15-year-old. Did you feel like one of the golden children of Austrian ski jumping?
Not at all. I jumped and had fun. These results just came.
But you’ve probably heard from everywhere how great a talent you are.
When you go to school in Stams and you are one of the best in your age group, you fight with Gregor Schlierenzauer and Mario Innauer, you realize that something bigger can come out of it. On the other hand, I wonder if I even had the goal to be the best in the world? I guess I didn’t really think about it. I did it absolutely professionally, but I didn’t put any pressure on myself.
What stood out to you among players from your age group?
I think that, first of all, I did well in flight, I had a good feel for the air. Even when I wasn’t going very fast, I was able to make up a lot of ground later in the air.
You mentioned Stams. This school is considered legendary in the winter sports community.
It probably was like that back then. Today, there are many more such schools, and in Poland you also have some centers where you can train well. Back then it was actually elite, but now it’s standard level.
What coaches did you work with there?
I was very lucky with the coaches. First I met Richard Schallert, then after the first year I trained with Werner Schuster. In the last year he was still there Harald Haimanother group was led by Alex Stoeckl, but we went to camps together. The group of trainers we had was brilliant, they had really great competences. It was a good time.
Your career has developed in an exemplary manner…
I don’t want to belittle these successes now, but I have never stood on the World Cup podium, for example. It was going really well, but it happens in life that one situation can quickly change everything. As in my case, one accident changed everything.
An accident that resulted in a concussion, numerous contusions after a fall, and lung compression. How did this even happen?
I spent a week in intensive care… It was my mistake. My ski fell off and I landed on my head at the highest point.
Trauma for life?
I think not for life, but in jumping for sure. I never managed to get back to my old level. It was very tiring for me because the goal was no longer to land as far as possible, but simply to land on my feet. In this situation, there was no point in continuing to practice this sport.
Fear accompanied you every time you climbed the beam?
No, but very often. When I saw that the conditions were a little more difficult, jumping immediately stopped being fun. I tried to keep my physical condition at the best possible level for a long time. Then, after two years, I tried to fight for a comeback, but the problems became so intense that I decided to choose a different path. I assumed that if I was to come back, I would first have to completely forget about jumping and, if I felt like it, start again.
Did you even see that jump?
I only saw it once, but it was from backwards. Maybe it’s good that this jump wasn’t recorded normally, you don’t want to have such images in your head.
You stopped jumping, but you didn’t quit jumping. How did you become the Dutch coach?
I remember Horst Tielmann called me and simply asked if I would like to take on it. I think it’s been less than a year since I stopped jumping. I knew from the beginning that I would like to stay in ski jumping and pass on my knowledge to the next generation, but the role of head coach of the Dutch was definitely a plunge into the deep end. We worked together for a while, I think I developed a base that I later used in Austria.
After many years in the structures of the Austrian federation, cooperation with the Dutch must have been a harsh reality check for you.
Absolutely. We spent a lot of time in cars. It was a very low-budget project, but I still think we managed to do some cool things. We had a base in Austria, but we also went to, for example, Szczyk or other towns where competitions were held and extended our stay. It was definitely quite an intense time.
Later you worked for Austria.
I started as a trainer at the base in Innsbruck. I did rather simple things, initially I didn’t have much responsibility. Then I was in the B team. I was very lucky to work alongside Harald Diess. In my time, some of these players went from the FIS Cup to the Continental Cup. For example, Daniel Huber survived his first injuries under our wings. In the Continental Cup I was Anders Widhoelzl’s assistant. We won some together. During this time, I also sewed a lot of overalls.
The last two years before the Beijing Olympics, I was already in the national team. I’ve already done a lot of different things there. It was quite a difficult time, but certainly very interesting. I got a little more involved in hardware issues and in talks with FIS. I looked at jumping from many different perspectives, there were also successes… Finally, I decided that enough was enough.
In the meantime, Poles dreamed of you jumping for our country.
If you already join the Austrian team, you know that you can achieve the TOP15 level in the World Cup. I don’t know what conditions were like in Poland at that time, but considering what was happening in Stams, I don’t know if I could have done better anywhere. My dad is a great Polish patriot, so he would definitely be happy, but it was always more of a media topic.
There have never been any conversations on this topic?
No, absolutely nothing major happened.
Do you often visit Poland?
Yes, I still have family in Poland. I have an uncle, a cousin, a cousin in Wrocław, and my grandmother lived near Jelenia Góra. Previously, we went to Poland in the summer or even twice a year. When I was an alpine skier, we went on camps in cooperation with the Śnieżka Karpacz club. I remember that we were in Kołobrzeg. My brother and I did slalom poles in the sand.
After your career ended, and you were following your old colleagues, such as Gregor Schlierenzauer, you sometimes wondered where you would be today if it weren’t for the accident?
I’ve never thought about it this way, it doesn’t help. I’m very happy with where I am now. This accident was definitely not a positive thing, but after I stopped jumping I was able to experience many other things. When you are in this “bubble”, ski jumping seems to be the most important thing in the world, but when you get out of it, you see that there is another life outside sports. It’s amazing how many possibilities there are.
