Thursday, January 06, 2022
First Grand Slam 20 years ago
When Hannawald defeated the touring myth
By Martin Armbruster
The first three competitions at the Four Hills Tournament have already won many jumpers when Sven Hannawald dominated in late 2001 and early 2002. Everyone failed on the fourth success – until the German managed the perfect tour finale in front of an audience of millions on RTL.
Tom Bartels did not get out of the saddle like in 2014, when Mario Götze Germany shot to world champion in Rio. “He made it, the myth of the Four Hills Tournament is defeated,” said the RTL commentator at the time – and let Sven Hannawald explode “in peace” at the outflow of the Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze in Bischofshofen.
The rhetorical reporter trick worked. The images of Hannawald celebrating his historic ski jumping Grand Slam in the noise of a whistle are still unforgettable today, 20 years later. How the load of the 63 kilo lightweight falls off, how “Hanni” screams the joy of his coup. How DSV co-trainer Wolfgang Steiert falls around the neck of sports director Rudi Tusch and national coach Reinhard Heß pulls his cap. A collective emotional outburst – on the hill and with millions in front of the television sets.
January 6, 2002 was in a way a ski jumping big bang. Hannawald achieved what no one had achieved in 49 tours since 1953: no Recknagel, no Wirkola, no Weißflog, no Nykänen. The then 27-year-old won all four competitions of the legendary German-Austrian hill series. He defeated the myth, as Bartels aptly captured at the moment of the big bang.
Four years earlier, Hannawald stopped Funaki’s dream
For 49 years, the Grand Slam had been considered an impossibility, an unattainable ski jumping Olympus. Olaf Björnstad (Norway, 1953/54), Helmut Recknagel (GDR, 58/59), Max Bolkart (FRG, 59/60), Toralf Engan (Norway, 62/63), Björn Wirkola (Norway, 68/69), Yukio Kasaya (Japan, 71/72), Kazuyoshi Funaki (Japan, 97/98). They all won the first three competitions. All of them (except for Kasaya, who was withdrawn from the Japanese federation in preparation for the Olympics in Sapporo) failed at the final in Bischofshofen.
Sven Hannawald jumped into a frenzy in the winter of 2001/02. After the home wins in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the daydreams started – albeit with caution. Because Martin Schmitt had also won the opening competition in 1998, only to crash on the Bergisel in Innsbruck. Hannawald, however, tightened the damned devil’s jaw again. With a hill record he jumped the competition into the ground. In this form, the historical four-pack seemed only a matter of form.
And yet: How difficult the undertaking was only became clear in the year 4 BC. H. (in front of Hannawald) shown: The Japanese Funaki also dominated the first three competitions in 1997/98. In Bischofshofen, the jump aesthetic could no longer withstand the pressure, and came eighth without a hitch (Hannawald won ahead of Hans-Jörg Jäkle).
Kranjec and Hautamäki are putting a lot of pressure on
Hannawald felt this pressure at the beginning of 2002. And how. The whole of Germany was in a ski jumping frenzy, the ratings on RTL went through the roof. Hardcore fans as well as casual viewers – they all expected from “Hanni” what was actually impossible. “I’ll do my stuff,” the thin man from Hinterzarten carried like a mantra in the TV interviews. A simple, sympathetic sentence to escape the (media) expectations.
Hannawald wanted to appear relaxed. But the pressure that was on him before the tour finale was inhuman. He should finally get those darned four clear now! Failure forbidden! In order to save grain, the DSV-Adler regularly skipped the qualification and always had to face the strongest in the competition in a knockout duel.
How Hannawald “performed” in view of this mixed situation on the Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze – unique. Certainly: The facility with its long take-off table was a born aviator, only three years earlier he had popped a record in the Salzburg snow at a legendary World Cup team competition of 137 meters (and won gold with Dieter Thoma, Martin Schmitt and Christof Duffner). But as if the pressure on Hannawald’s narrow shoulders wasn’t already great enough, the Slovenian Robert Kranjec and the Finn Matti Hautamäki suddenly knocked them out with 134.5 and 134 meters respectively.
“3 p.m., 56 minutes and 55 seconds”
And Hannawald? Stayed cool, hit the edge, flew, flew, flew and almost landed on the flat – 139 meters! Because he was only able to land a cup in this wide range and lost points, however, it remained exciting. Hautamäki wanted to play the party crasher and keep the touring myth intact, so in the second round with 131.5 meters he presented another bombshell. As the last jumper, Hannawald slipped onto the beam. At “3 pm, 56 minutes and 26 seconds,” as Tom Bartels verbally recorded the banned nation, he checked his bond again. Then he drove off.
At “3 p.m., 56 minutes and 55 seconds” (Bartels) it was done. Hannawald had delivered an eighth time, unwaveringly done his stuff. 131.5 meters including Telemark. The thing was through. “I gave everything for little Sven’s childhood dream, over many years, sometimes even decades. That cost in the end,” said Hannawald, who later suffered burnout, in an interview on the occasion of his 20th Grand Slam anniversary. “But it is more important to me that I was able to fulfill my dream of winning the tour.”
Sven Hannawald didn’t just win the Four Hills Tournament 20 years ago today. He demythologized it – and for a few years now, with Poland’s Kamil Stoch and Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan, he has even been part of the club of the Grand Slam winners.