Alexander Stoeckl ended his career as a ski jumper already at age 22 and only a year later he became assistant coach of the Austrian national team, where he first worked together with Andreas Felder and later with Mika Kojonkoski. After that he was coaching young athletes in Austria, before he decided to accept the challenge of becoming head coach of the Norwegian national team in March 2011.
As successor of Mika Kojonkoski, the 38-year-old had to follow in big footsteps, but soon he was able to convince also his critics, who would have preferred to see a Norwegian as head coach, with his working methods.
Already in his first World Cup season as head coach he could celebrate strong results and also achieve successes in team competitions against the usually dominating Austrians. Athletes like Rune Velta or Vegard Sklett moved up to the world class during this time. The outstanding achievement was of course the overall World Cup victory of Anders Bardal, a triumph that probably no one expected before the season.
FISskijumping: Will the Austrians dominate the World Cup again, like in the previous eight years, or will the Norwegians be the best this time?
Alexander Stoeckl: The Austrians are still are strong team and hard to beat. But various teams got closer to them and of course we will do everything we can to end this long streak. We trained well and we will try to close the gap. But it would be overconfident to talk about winning, we are not there yet. But we will do our best to make it more exciting.
FISskijumping: What are your goals for the next upcoming winter, individually and for the team?
Stoeckl: Our goal this year is to get more athletes closer to the top. Anders Bardal's success last year was great, but we also have to see that the gap to the other Norwegians was big. We try to change that this year. In the Nation's Cup we want to defend the second place and reduce the gap to the top. That only works when we have more than one athlete in the Top 10 of the overall World Cup. In the individual overall ranking we are fighting for the podium.
FISskijumping: How high are the chances that Anders Bardal defends his overall World Cup title?
Stoeckl: Defending an overall World Cup title is an extremely difficult task. I think it's unrealistic to set this as a goal. There are too many factors involved. But of course Anders wants to do as well as possible. Last season should give him the necessary self-confidence for this task.
FISskijumping: What are your priorities? What is most important for your team and why?
Stoeckl: The priorities are different for each athlete that why I can't say what's most important in general. For me, as a coach of a whole team, the overall World Cup has a high value. A good performance over the whole season shows how well you've worked. Big events like the 4-Hills-Tournament and the World Championships have their own special value and of course I must admit, that being successful there is also fun.
FISskijumping: What is, in your opinion, the main difference between Austria and Norway?
Stoeckl: That's difficult to say. Norway has a long history in ski jumping and therefore the interest is very high. It is expected that athletes of the cradle of this sport are successful. Apart from that I think the differences are marginal. The media is more offensive.
FISskijumping: Who is your top favorite for winning the overall World Cup title?
Stoeckl: There are many this year. The German team showed strong performances this summer with Freund, Freitag and Wank. The Austrians are having all their stars on board again and also other teams will do well. It will be more exciting than ever and, of course, I hope that we will also be among the best.
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