Fallen former world champion
Suddenly Eisenbichler flies away from his horror season
March 11, 2024, 12:44 p.m
Markus Eisenbichler will want to forget this season very quickly. Nothing wants to come together for a long time, not even in the Continental Cup, the second league for ski jumping. But shortly before the end of the season, “Eisei” finds its form and perhaps at least gets a happy ending.
Markus Eisenbichler was satisfied. A feeling that rarely, very rarely occurred this season. In Lathi, Finland, the fallen German ski jumping star celebrated a small, big resurrection this weekend, which may yet give him a nice end to a terrible winter. On the traditional ski jump far in the north, “Eisei” gathered plenty of arguments to make it onto the World Cup team again at the end. The 32-year-old came second at the start of the weekend and won the second competition.
He only revealed how good these successes are for him in a tiny little dose via Instagram: “I’m very happy with the weekend in Lathi,” he wrote. For an otherwise emotional guy like Eisenbichler, who is euphoric in triumph and merciless in self-criticism, it was surprisingly sober and cool. But perhaps the former super eagle would also do well to approach the things that are now falling into place with humility. Because just a few weeks ago he was much closer to being finally sunk than to being promoted back to the top league of ski jumping.
That could be the case for the six-time world champion in Planica when the best in the world duel again in ski flying on the Monsterbakken in just under two weeks to round off the annual event. Eisenbichler himself experienced great moments on the huge flying hill in the Julian Alps and recently gained new self-confidence there (on the smaller hill). Two weeks after his victory in Iron Mountain, the turning point for the better, he finished fifth and eighth in Planica. But his highlights at this magical place were in 2017 and 2019, when he set the still valid German record with 248 meters.
“We are not allowed to make substitutions during Raw Air”
While his A-squad around Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger is currently looking for form after a strong start to the season, “Eisei” is gaining momentum. “He’s good at ski flying. The technology obviously works. You don’t just win competitions in the Continental Cup. Everything looks good. So of course I hope that he gets another chance to end the difficult season on a positive note,” says Sven Hannawald, Germany Ski jumping legend, the German Press Agency.
“Definitely” Eisenbichler’s use in Planica is an option, national coach Stefan Horngacher also announced on Sunday on ARD, “unfortunately we are not allowed to make substitutions during the Raw Air.” He is very happy for Eisenbichler: “Thank God he is showing good jumps again.” For weeks now, this has no longer been the case for the enigmatically weak veterans Karl Geiger and Stephan Leyhe, who are possible candidates for cancellation.
The national coach had not always been kind to his former top man, who had gone through a lot of trouble, this season. In Engelberg, the last competition before the Four Hills Tournament, the Austrian surprisingly took on the 32-year-old in mid-December. “It’s incomprehensible to me that he doesn’t bring anything together,” said Horngacher. “He often covers up a lot of things. We have to talk about where the journey is going. Performance counts, that’s just how it is. It doesn’t matter how many medals you have hanging at home.” At that time, Horngacher did not offer the veteran any prospect of returning, and public encouragement was sought in vain.
“He sucks in competition”
And there was no leniency in Hannawald’s verdict either: “I really don’t understand from the outside what the problem is and why he is dismantling himself like that. He sucks in the competition. These are personal things that leave you with a lot of question marks from the outside “, he told the German Press Agency. A few days later, Hannawald told sportschau.de: It was difficult to convince Eisenbichler “that he is on the right path. Because he always thinks that only he is on the right path. For Markus, it is either a case of waking up or following his own path But then the end of his career will be relatively close.”
For Hannawald, the massive lack of form despite fluctuations last winter came as a surprise: “I saw him at one of the last autumn courses. What I saw there was great. I also have a lot of question marks. He turns in circles and stands up on his feet. The trainers did everything for him.” For Horngacher, the crash was the result of various difficulties. “He had a bit too many problems in the summer: with his knee, he was constantly injured, and also with his training. We also advised him against that, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. He definitely wanted to go through with it.” The original Bavarian took a few liberties. “He probably made a few mistakes too,” Horngacher noted critically.
In the summer, the athlete completed his training for promotion to the higher service of the Federal Police in parallel to his preparation. Immediately after the winter season, Eisenbichler and his classmates began “an intensive and demanding four-month theoretical block,” the Bad Endorf Federal Police Sports School wrote in a statement. “They then completed their internships in various federal police stations.” The training did not end until the end of September with theoretical exams.
Absolute low point in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Eisenbichler reached the absolute low point of the season at the beginning of January, on Epiphany Day, when his teammates jumped at the Four Hills Tournament. In Garmisch-Partenkirchen he came 47th. Of 52 participants. On the large Olympic ski jump, where the New Year’s ski jump had taken place five days earlier, Eisenbichler’s competition was over after just one round after a jump of 113 meters. Two years ago the Bavarian came second in the competition competition at the same place. Things went only a little better in the second competition, this time Eisenbichler just missed the second round by a much narrower margin in 32nd place. Some have already spoken openly of the frustrated athlete’s nearing end to his career. “Personally, I wasn’t afraid that he would quit. Markus is a thoroughbred athlete, people like that don’t give up so easily. Of course he was disappointed, it was one of his most difficult winters ever,” said sports director Horst Hüttel.
The dark days now seem forgotten. Planica beckons. And then? At 32, Eisenbichler is one of the older generations in the German team. But because there is only a small number of young people coming up, they at the German Ski Association are hoping for more years with him. “We have two great highlights ahead of us with Trondheim and the Olympics. I have the feeling that he still has the desire and fun for it,” said Hüttel, with a view to the 2025 World Cup and the Winter Games a year later.