opprettet på: 04.01.2012 12:46 / km

FISskijumping: Due to recent occurrences: Will there be an athlete nominated for the team to replace Tom Hilde?

 

Alexander Stoeckl: Yes, we nominated Kenneth Gangnes. He achieved very good results in the Continentalcup and also earned us the additional quota spot. He will travel to Innsbruck today. The rest of the team remains unchanged for the next to competitions of the 4-Hills-Tournament.

 

FISskijumping: Right after he was released from the hospital Tom Hilde returend to the team again what shows the great team spirit. Is this also part of your philosophy to strengthen this team spirit?

 

Stoeckl: Definitely. Under this special circumstances it was very important for Tom to return to his team again soon. First he was relieved that he was allowed to leave the hospital again that early and I think that it was also important for his teammates. The Norwegians are known for the fact that they are all very close friends. When a team leader like Tom is missing, it leaves a big gap. For the others it was a shock when they heard about the diagnosis. We know look at it that way, that everyone is also jumping for the injured and then he'll be able to return to a strong team.

 

FISskijumping: In the recent competitions you showed strong team performances, but the individual results were top very good. What was the reason for that in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen?

 

Stoeckl: The pressure on Anders Bardal was pretty high before the 4-Hills. The first jump in Oberstdorf was good, but he had back luck with the conditions over the knoll and lost many points. That made it twice as difficult: You know that you can fight for the top, but you are already 20 points behind after the first jump of the Tournament. In Garmisch Anders then wanted too much and so he made some old mistakes again. And if, in addition to that, the conditions are not that good and Gregor Schlierenzauer has a perfect jump then you can't catch up. We are not on a level yet that it doesn't matter from which direction the wind is coming. Our goal is to get there and we don't need luck with the wind anymore.

 

FISskijumping: What exactly are your goals for the second half of the 4-Hills?

 

Stoeckl: The dream of the overall victory is over for Anders Bardal. Now it's only about having two good competitions in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen and show good performances again. It was already clear from the beginning that for the rest of the team these are only four individual competitions where especially the young jumpers can gain experiences.

 

FISskijumping: It is your first 4-Hills-Tournament as head coach. How do you experience the pressure?

 

Stoeckl: Actually it's okay, I thought it would be worse. Because our results were already pretty good before and we came to the 4-Hills with confidence, the pressure and the expectations were not too high. We don't have two or three athletes at the top, like the Austrians. We knew that we have one on our team and so the pressure was not that high for the rest. I know what's going on at the 4-Hills-Tournament from my time as assistant coach and I know that it's stressful. Apart from that I look at it as a normal World Cup competition with a little bit more interest of the public.

 

FISskijumping: Is the Norwegian public more critical and does it pay attention to details like for example the inrun speed?

 

Stoeckl: That's right. Ski jumping is very popular in Norway, also because of the cultural background. That's why the interest in such detailed information is also high of course.

 

FISskijumping: Does it mean additional pressure for the technicians?

 

Stoeckl: Fortunately were are among the teams with the highest inrun speed. Thomas Hoerl is really doing a great job. What most people not see is that not only the technicians are responsible for the speed. When a jumper is one kilometer per hour slower, then he probably doesn't have a perfect inrun position. That's why we are working more on the positions recently.

 

FISskijumping: Did you have a say concerning who will be the technician when you took the job in Norway?

 

Stoeckl: The relationship with the former technician was not that good. So I was asked if I know someone from Austria who could do that job. I was thinking about Thomas Hoerl because he had already helped the nordic combined team. He was interested right away. In the case of Andreas Vilberg I was talking to a few candidates and we decided in favor of him later because he has just ended his career and even took care of his own suits. He is really competent and knows a lot about the equipment. It was important for us to have an insider who also knows the view of an athlete.

 

FISskijumping: The Norwegian team is very active concerning the social media and you are also regularly write statements on Twitter and Facebook. How important is it to have such a direct way of communication with the public?

 

Stoeckl: Earlier this season we had a three-day media camp where we spoke about how to get more people interested in Norwegian ski jumping. The jumpers enjoy communicating on such platforms and so they really wanted to do it. For us it's important to reach sponsors and fans directly. From my point of view it's also very important that also the unfiltered opinion of the head coach is made public.