Winter sports: The tour as a warning: “quality problem” among ski jumpers

After the botched Four Hills Tournament, Andreas Wellinger openly pointed out a grievance. “We need more people to make life difficult for us from below. Then we have to develop further,” says the Olympic champion, referring to the young German ski jumpers.

While in Austria, which occupied all three podium places, one young athlete after the next is pushing for the World Cup team, the German top performers have been almost the same for years. Hardly anyone from the youth is pushing for the top. This could soon become a lasting problem. The sports director is alarmed.

Sports director expects “break” after the 2026 Winter Games

“That also worries us and we think about it every day about how we can push people in from behind,” says Horst Hüttel. With a view to next year’s Winter Olympics, the 56-year-old added: “After Milan at the latest there will be a break for us. One, two or three athletes that we still have at the moment will stop.”

The strongest German this season, Pius Paschke, is 34 years old. Wellinger is 29 and Karl Geiger is 31. The three of them are the best Germans in the overall World Cup in third, sixth and eleventh place.

Wellinger: Austria has a “luxury problem”

For comparison: Austria has four jumpers in the top eight. The 22-year-old tour champion Daniel Tschofenig (first), the 26-year-old tour second Jan Hörl (second), the 31-year-old tour third Stefan Kraft (fourth) and the 22-year-old Maximilian Ortner (eighth).

The squad density in the neighboring country is so great that successful coach Andreas Widhölzl always has to leave top jumpers at home. “A luxury problem” – that’s what Wellinger calls it. National coach Stefan Horngacher doesn’t have this luxury problem.

Despite the crushing tour defeat, the 55-year-old continues to enjoy high regard among his bosses. “The coaching question doesn’t arise at all for us at the moment,” says Hüttel. “He has our complete trust.” Horngacher has a permanent contract with the German Ski Association.

The Austrian repeatedly tries to integrate young jumpers into the team – with moderate success. The older ones are often simply better. The performance principle applies.

Horngacher calls for patience – centralization is an issue

Nevertheless, Horngacher sees improvements in youth work in recent years. But these didn’t work immediately. It takes patience. Sports director Hüttel also points out that work is already being done on the issue. “We don’t have a conceptual problem. We have a quality problem,” he clarifies.

Hüttel has brought back former national coach Werner Schuster as youth head coach. Centralization in the youth sector is also being discussed. There are not enough young athletes, says Hüttel. The numbers are constant. “We don’t have fewer children. It’s just that the quality is worse,” he explains.

Increasing the power density is one of the main tasks for the coming years. Until then, the experienced will have to sort it out.

We’re heading to the World Championships in Trondheim at the end of February. The hopefuls there are again Paschke, Wellinger and Geiger. “There will be young ones coming and we will hold the position for as long as possible,” says Geiger combatively. “But I hope that we will be replaced at some point.”