Evolving ahead of the World Championships
With third place in the overall World Cup, a runners-up spot in the World Championships, two victories and so many successful moments, ski jumper Andreas Wellinger experienced his best World Cup season yet in 2023/24.
Hi Andi, it’s been a while now since the end of the season in March. Let's take a look back again – how does the season feel now you can reflect on it?
Andreas Wellinger: [Laughs] Awful! No, joking aside... it was a very cool season. My goal was to jump at a very high level from the first competition of the season to the last, regardless of where I finished. I managed that almost perfectly. It only really didn’t work out in the last competition of the season - but December and January were sensational. Silver and bronze at the Ski Jumping World Championships and winning the Four Hills Tournament at my local event in Oberstdorf were special highlights for me.
The fact that 25,000 people sang the German national anthem for me was something very special.
I've never experienced the whole thing around the Four Hills Tournament before. So while a lot of things went very well, I still feel there is potential for more. We work every day to try to achieve that!
How important is it to clear your head after a long and draining season?
Andreas Wellinger: It actually went on longer than usual this year, but after the end of the season in Planica I had to switch off for a few weeks. I had to forget all about ski jumping to give my mind and body space. I went on holiday to Sri Lanka with my girlfriend and enjoyed the nature, beaches, sun, culture, food and went surfing ... such a great contrast to the long World Cup winter!
You're busy training again now for the 2024/25 season. How are you preparing – is it business as usual or are you trying something different?
Andreas Wellinger: It's very much an evolution and not a revolution in my training. I don't make classic ski jumping mistakes anymore, so I concentrate on the things I do right. I've learned a lot in the past few years in terms of dealing with my body, with my technique and the equipment – everything you need for those vital few seconds on the hill. I have a perfect set-up here too, both privately and in terms of the coach and team.
The best ski jumpers in the world talk about finding nuances to improve – what are you working on to become even better?
Andreas Wellinger: Of course, there are always small cogs that I want to look at in order to develop further. I want to achieve an even better symmetry in my jump. If you are asymmetrical, then you can lose the flow or fail to have enough dynamism in the jump. The more symmetrical the skis, body and arms are, the more effectively energy can be converted into higher speeds. That's exactly what I'm focusing on at the moment.
Speaking of nuances: Are you also working with the VAN DEER Red Bull Sports Team on updating your setup for the new season?
Andreas Wellinger: I can't and don't want to divulge anything about that. The setup is extremely important and sensitive in ski jumping. We already worked very well together last year, and it's a lot of fun to work on details with your ski jump design expert, Pierre, and to test the ideas to see what actually happens on the hill. You can discuss or philosophize as much as you want on the theory, after all, but when you go out to test it on the hill, that is the moment of truth as to whether it works or not. It has been less than two years, but we have already achieved a lot together.
In addition to the Four Hills Tournament, the highlight of the season will be the Nordic Ski World Championships in Trondheim from 27 February to 8 March 2025. Do the World Championships change your preparations for the season in any way?
Andreas Wellinger: No, not really. Of course, the fact that a World Championships is coming up is always at the back of your mind. Let's put it this way: the stakes are higher, but the preparation is exactly the same. That is the difference between ski jumping and other sports such as cross-country skiing. In endurance sports, you can prepare much more precisely for a certain day and train for it. As a ski jumper, you can work on a lot in training, and we do have certain training phases in order to give us a certain performance peak, in theory. Ski jumping works differently, though, it is more difficult and fragile. Things are the most effective on the hill when all the basics are right. That's why I am trying to arrange my setup and prepare my body in such a way that I can perform at the top level throughout the season. If I succeed in doing that, then it is will also be possible to put in a top performance on a particular day.
You will start the 2024/25 World Cup season in just over three months: What is your plan leading up to the start of the season on 23 November in Lillehammer?
Andreas Wellinger: There is a rough outline of a plan for when and where we will be away with the German ski team, which works out about once every two to three weeks. In autumn, the preparations for the World Cup winter will get more intensive. We’ll be looking closely where and on which hill we train and with which group. My current plan is to skip the first summer competitions and only jump in the last competitions. I just want to use the time for training instead. Between 3 October, the date of the last summer competition, and 20 November, there will be another intense phase of preparations. This time always passes extremely quickly, and before you know it you are starting!
Another person who is starting, all again in his case, is Marcel Hirscher – as an Austrian skiing for the Netherlands and Racing Test Pilot for VAN DEER Red Bull Sports. What do you expect from Marcel Hirscher's return?
Andreas Wellinger: The whole project is extremely exciting. The Marcel Hirscher I know is quite simply a freak - in the most positive sense, if you can say so. It is no coincidence he won eight overall World Cups in a row. That doesn't happen to just anyone, there is so much hard work, discipline, passion and an endless love of skiing behind it. I’m really curious to see how Marcel Hirscher gets on when he prepares for the winter with the FIS races in South America over the summer. It’s quite a different system with the FIS points and the start numbers in the Alpine disciplines to ski jumping. I don't really care if I jump as number 1 or 50, it's all about good or bad conditions, no matter when it's my turn.
Andi, we wish you all the best for the busy weeks ahead in your pre-season. Here's to some successful work with the material and good test jumps so that you can achieve everything you are aiming for in the coming season.
