Thomas Morgenstern: “They will do anything for me anyway”.
He is the greatest talent for many years, not only in Austrian ski jumping, but all over the world. Thomas Morgenstern, 17-the summer competitor is always in a good mood on the hills and his optimism is contagious, like no other.
First World Cup victory in a century 16 Thomas Morgenstern sparked interest early on by winning the junior world title. He celebrated his first World Cup victory at the age of 16 lat (in the season 2002/03 in Liberec), and last summer he triumphed in the Summer-Grand-Prix classification 2003.
By a catastrophic fall at the season opener in Kuusamo and a successful return to jumping only a few weeks later, The Austrian was once again in the spotlight. Morgenstern continued his strong performance and, despite the break, finished an impressive sixth in the World Cup standings. Now it belongs to the favorites of the Summer-Grand-Prix 2004.
Ski jumper defined by the Sports Director of the Austrian Ski Association, Toni Innauera, as “purebred racehorse”, in its current form, it has a good chance, to defend the title.
“I am delighted with my sport”
The day of Thomas Morgi Morgenstern consists of activities on the hill and at school: a quick history exam in the morning, and in the evening to Predazzo or another property.
This is what Morgenstern's day looks like. The Austrians are training in Italy these days, and at the weekend they move to Bischofshofen, to make training jumps there. “So far everything has gone well for me”, says Morgenstern, who has already completed training camps in Ramsau this summer, Hinterzarten i Innsbruck. “I am delighted with my sport and happy with my achievements”, says the ski jumper from Carinthia. It's hard to assess though, how does its current form compare to the one presented last summer, but Morgenstern is still making progress.
“I got on very well with Lepistö”
Morgenstern does not confirm, but he doesn't deny it either, whether he influenced the change of coach in the Austrian team. Student from Lieserbrücke, who recently wrote a paper on Matti Nykänen based on the book “Greetings from hell”, describes her relationship with Hannu Lepistö as conflict-free. “I got on very well with him as a coach, I have no problems with Alex Pointner either. We have already worked together during the Junior World Championships and I can see now, how motivated he is by his new activity.” In Carinthia, Thomas Morgenstern as well as Martin Koch and Stefan Kaiser are looked after by Martin Wiegele, coach, which is the backbone of the training center in Villach. Another plus for Thomas Morgenstern is this, that Wiegele has always been an important talking point for young players.
“Title defense? Why not?”
Morgenstern is already looking to the future. The Austrian wants to repeat the victory in the Summer Grand-Prix classification from last year. “Why not?”, he asks confidently. He likes the new weight regulation, “I can still lose weight”. She bares her teeth as she says: “And so everything will be done for me for this purpose…” The young player is very happy, that his roommate Martin Höllwarth and Andreas Goldberger decided to continue his career. “I can learn a lot from experienced jumpers.”
“Free time is not important to me”
April holiday in Egypt is history, maybe next time in the fall. “However, free time is not important to me at the moment, I am totally focused on jumping – and in Italian, I will have an exam in the fall…”
The jump from fall to winter is short. “Celebrating the victory in the World Cup competition, at the world championships in Oberstdorf on my favorite hill to fight, jump throughout the World Cup season, improve the results compared to last year, these are my goals”, concludes Morgenstern.