Ski jumping: Schuster worries about transparency

The touring dream has burst, the anger about Richard Freitag’s fall is great. Andreas Wellinger can win more than one consolation prize in Bischofshofen.

Werner Schuster let off steam. The fatal downfall of Richard Freitag made the ski jumping trainer of the federation still powerful before continuing his journey to Bischofshofen, Andreas Wellinger’s jump to second place in the overall standings hardly comforted the DSV coach.

“Up to now, the Four Hills Tournament has gone pretty well according to plan. Now she has written another story – unfortunately not a positive one,”said Schuster after Friday’s crash landing in Innsbruck.

Already during the jumping at Bergisel, Schuster called the jury names, and hours later he added more. In focus: Geir Steinar Löng, Technical Director responsible for the competition.

The Norwegian was already in action in December, when Svenja Würth crashed heavily at the Women’s World Cup in Hinterzarten,”It’s the same man,”said Schuster.

That Löng has “a different philosophy of how to present ski jumping”, says Schuster. This had “made things worse”. Friday, until then second in the overall standings, had been sent off with too much effort, according to the Federal Coach.

Schuster confidently described the risk of being considered a bad loser by his words as “equal to zero”, saying that his criticism was factual:”I would repeat it 17 times. I’m behind it,”he said.

At the same time, however, Schuster admitted that Friday made a mistake – unlike Kamil Stoch. Shortly after the DSV eagle with a mixture of luck and skill, the pole came close to the same spot “Richard’s jump was not much worse. If anyone can currently beat Kamil, he can. That’s why this was a bitter day,”said the national coach.

At the same time, Schuster defended his decision not to have shortened the startup time “The FIS is putting a lot of pressure on us as coaches. The jumper then has to reach 95 percent of Hillsize (123.5 m in Innsbruck, ed.),”he said. If this is not successful, there are no bonus points for shortening. But I will get over it,”said Schuster.

“Richard Freitag finished third in Innsbruck in the 125-metre qualifying round, Austria’s Clemens Leitner with 126 metres in 42nd place. Is that good for the transparency of ski jumping,”said Schuster on Thursday in Innsbruck.

Instead, Schuster argued in favour of defensively choosing the approach length at the beginning of a competition and – if possible – staying with it.

“Wouldn’t it be better if someone who’s not so good jumped shorter – and someone who’s good continued? Defensive strategies must be used, especially in changing conditions,”said Schuster.

The spectators only see the jumpers landing, they can’t see the wind points. And they want a little bit of a guarantee that the one they cheer for was also good,”said Schuster, adding:” I wonder: will the fan continue to do that?

Andreas Wellinger was the third in his career to land on a tour podium for the first time in his career – and in the overall standings he is suddenly directly behind the leading stoch. When asked about his chances of winning the tour, Wellinger had to laugh.

“I’ll have a look at the list: Kamil is 65 points ahead of me. No one wishes something like Richie would happen to him. He can only beat himself and that won’t happen,”says Wellinger. If he defends second place in the final at Bischofshofen on Sunday (5 pm in the LIVETICKER) that would be more than a consolation. Maybe even for Werner Schuster.