Thomas Morgenstern:
Morgenstern: “It’s time for the first victory!”
It all starts on Friday! The ski jumpers start the World Cup winter in Lillehammer. Carinthian Olympic champion Thomas Morgenstern hopes that Daniel Tschofenig will follow in his footsteps. The ski jump in Lillehammer suits "Tschofe"! And Heinz Kuttin makes his debut as head coach of the German ski jumpers. . .
Eight days before Daniel Tschofenig's ninth birthday, his first ski jumping role model Thomas Morgenstern was the last Carinthian to win the overall World Cup in Planica (Slo) in March 2011. 13 years later, "Morgi" is feverishly following the now 22-year-old Hohenthurner. . .
"I would like Tschofe to be my successor. I have every confidence in him. It's time for his first World Cup victory and I believe that he will succeed this year. Then a big burden will be lifted from Daniel," says Morgenstern.
Carinthia's talents need patience
There isn't a huge selection of potential Carinthian high-flyers at the moment anyway. Maximilian Ortner (SV Villach) was called up at short notice to replace Daniel Huber, who has a knee injury, but otherwise things look bleak. Markus Müller (SG Klagenfurt) and Julijan Smid (SV Achomitz) have already had a taste of World Cup action, but they haven't quite reached the big time yet. They have to hope that they qualify for the national group at the home competitions of the Four Hills Tournament. "That takes patience. We have a really strong team, the density is very high. When you get the chance, you have to take it," says the 38-year-old, who is already looking forward to the World Cup winter including the World Championships in Trondheim from the end of February to the beginning of March.
Thomas can still remember the last World Championships in Norway, in Oslo 2011 to be precise. No wonder, as he won gold there in the individual normal hill and in both team competitions. He also claimed individual silver on the large hill. Morgenstern: "That was the coolest World Championships I've ever experienced. There were 50,000 spectators at the award ceremony. It was amazing! Everyone there is into Nordic sports! Maybe I'll watch a jump in Trondheim this year. That's an Austrian ski jump." Which the Austrian eagles proved last March. Because there was the first quadruple victory for Austria since January 20, 1980 in Thunder Bay. Tschofenig was able to celebrate his best individual World Cup result in second place behind Stefan Kraft.
Fan of the telemark rule
The new telemark rule recently caused quite a stir. The judges are to deduct three points instead of the previous two for an unclean landing. "I think that's good. Ski jumping is an aesthetic sport, you like to see long jumps with a nice landing," says the double Olympic champion from the 2006 Winter Games in Turin.
The man from Seebodner doubts that the upgrading of the telemark will have an effect on the athletes or the rankings. "I don't think it will play a significant role. Top athletes like Stefan Kraft or Ryoyu Kobayashi jump down into the Gruabn and still do a clean telemark!"
Carinthia's ski jumping ace Daniel Tschofenig had to take almost two months off during preparation due to a torn adductor muscle. But the 22-year-old has come through it well. "I'm more or less back where I want to be. Some of the jumps at the Bergisel camp were really good," emphasizes the Hohenthorn native. "We worked on the flight phase recently."
However, things went really well in the summer GP directly after the injury with victory and fourth place in Hinzenbach and seventh place in Klingenthal (D): "It was surprising so soon after the injury - that's encouraging!"
Lillehammer suits Daniel
The World Cup starts this weekend in Lillehammer (Nor) - a favorite hill. Daniel has finished third on the podium twice so far and has also finished fourth and 13th. "A special hill with a small radius. You have to delay the jump and then go for it aggressively."
More time with his girlfriend
Before things get really serious on Saturday and Sunday with two World Cups, there will be a mixed competition on Friday with two men and two women. His girlfriend Alexandria Loutitt will miss the mixed competition due to the lack of Canadian men. Nevertheless, there's good news for the couple. Once again this season - including Lillehammer - there are eight World Cup venues where women and men are competing at the same time. "It's great that we see each other more often in winter - I think the joint competitions are really cool. Hopefully we can inspire each other," grins Tschofenig.
First women's tour in 2026/27
In the long term, the Carinthian and the Canadian could spend even more time together. In a three-stage plan, the FIS wants to run the women's and men's events completely in parallel from the 2026/27 season. "There will also be the first women's tour," says ski jumping race director Sandro Pertile.
Now it's really starting! Heinz Kuttin has already been working as the German women's ski jumping coach for seven months. This weekend in Lillehammer, he will make his debut as DSV coach in the World Cup. "I'm looking forward to the start. We're in really good shape physically, a podium would be nice," says the man from Zlan, who trained with his girls in Villach in the summer.
Jumping in Villach as a highlight
He is definitely looking forward to the competitions in Villach on 5 and 6 January 2025: "That's my home World Cup. Together with the World Championships, it's a real highlight," says the 53-year-old. And at the World Championships in Trondheim from the end of February to the beginning of March, his protégé Katharina Schmid will be the defending champion. She secured individual gold on the normal hill in Planica 2023. "We have a good team and have also brought in some youngsters. We're aiming to win the Nations Cup in the coming years," explains Kuttin, who took the bus to Norway on Tuesday.
Wiegele in the Intercontinental Cup for the time being
Hannah Wiegele will miss the start of the season. The Villach native will start the season in the Intercontinental Cup. This begins on December 7 and 8 in Zhangjiakou (China). "The first competitions are also about who will be in Engelberg," says Wiegele.
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