Qualification in windy Oslo

Qualification in windy Oslo

Today's skijumping nearly has been a nail-biter because of the windy conditions. At first it was said, training will be at 4pm, qualification following at 6pm, then it was proposed to have no training but the qualification at 16:00. Finally it ended with training at 5pm and a good qualification without much windbreaks. The training results put high expectations for Romoeren, Tochimoto and Freund. The latter is prequalified and although his headache from Thursday's competition is gone, he didn't jump today. But in qualification it looked a little different for Romoeren and Tochimoto - Shohei was lucky to be qualified as 39., Romoeren only got the 20. place. But it was a good day for Taku Takeuchi, Martin Koch (being 2.) and a surprisingly good and really happy Jernej Damjan getting the third place. Taku Takeuchi won with an incredible jump of 131,5m. Unfortunately we have to set Tom Hilde and Jurij Tepes aside. Both had not so nice conditions but obviously not a good day, too. It was also a pity for Alexander Zniszczol, who had the worst conditions and landed after some short 80m.

So let's talk about Tom Hilde. This incredible guy broke his back on the 30. of December, left the hospital on his own account on the next day and fought hard to come back. His first training already began 7 days later with some light exercises that didn't affect his back. He was able to cycle and about 4 weeks later to go jogging again. Happy news came on the 8th of February, so 40 days after his injury: Tom made his first jumps on the Lysgardbakken in Lillehammer! Although he wasn't sure about the quality of his jumps, he called head-coach Alex Stöckl and asked for an evaluation. And Alex was impressed. So Tom had to pack his bags and fly to Germany- to take part in the FIS team tour in Klingenthal. Imagine- just 46 days after breaking one of his vertebras. The skijumping world was happy to see him in the worldcup again- and hold his breath, when he made his first official jump- and won the qualification in Klingenthal. Unfortunately there was no competition because the day and also the following one, when they tried it again, was governed by the strong wind. Also in Oberstdorf Tom was able to show that a tough guy, who loves his mission will always be happy to live it out.

But to be honest, jumping isn't flying. Somehow Tom was nervous to go to Vikersund, where the skiflying world-championship took place on the last weekend of February. If you ask me, a nervous Tom is not a far-flying one.

It was a big discussion, whether it was right by Stöckl to nominate him but then not to put him into the team in Vikersund- especially when Norway only managed a fourth place in the team event even with a strong Rune Velta, who got the silver medal. But I trust Stöckl’s decisions and know he can evaluate his jumpers in a really good and intuitive way. So let's state, this decision was right and was best for Tom. It seems like the more Hilde cares and thinks about the upcoming jumps and his challenges in improving his technique, the more he's blocking himself. And the more Tom realizes he's just half-good, the more he thinks and panics a bit.

This situation continued in Lahti with him on the 36th place. Alex decided it would be best to give him a day off, which he used to relax a bit on the ski run with a friend. But it looked like it wasn't enough to blow all the worries and thoughts out of his head. Trondheim was not his cup of tea this year, because he missed the final round. I know he's trying hard to get relaxed and just jump to feel the pleasure in doing so without thinking and worrying and analyzing too much. And it seemed he was on a good way, when he wrote: “From now I will screw the results and focus on my technical challenges and try to have a bit more fun.”. But today's qualification showed that being nervous and worried lasts deeper than just wanting to not care about the jumps he's doing.

Let's hope that Tom manages to feel free and simply enjoy the pleasure of jumping without using his head so much - if so, we'll see a far better Tom Hilde, than we've seen so far. We do not know, whether this will happen in Planica. And it's not necessary to panic, too. Tom has his place in the team and in his coach's mind.

I believe in his strength and possibilities, so trust me: It's just a matter of time, when we will see him in his best shape.

- by Peggy (pikayartist)

#news #qualification #oslo #wc