From the very beginning, the modernized ski jumping
venues of Szczyrk and Wisla have been enjoying great
popularity among numerous teams. Thomas Morgernstern
trained in Szczyrk and Wisla 2009 before the Olympic
Games of Vancouver. The slovenian men’s team also
regularly holds training camps here.
The Flying Team Vikersund held a training camp in
Szczyrk last week. A group of 30 or so jumpers from
Norway visited Szczyrk for the second time in a
row. The Norwegians seem to have liked Poland a
lot. They have been coming to Zakopane for many
years first, now they have moved over to Szczyrk.
Among many young jumpers, we have also found a bronze
medalist from the Liberec World Championships in
2009, one of the most experienced female ski jumpers,
Anette Sagen.
FISskijumping.com talked to Sagen, who has not only
shared her impressions from the training camp in
Szczyrk, but also anticipated the first ever Olympic
season for the ski jumping ladies.
"This is my second time in Szczyrk. We have
been coming to Poland for training camps for a few
years now, first to Zakopane, now to Szczyrk. Every
year we like to gather the entire team, both the
elite group and juniors, and it's also very nice
to hang out with the younger guys. The sessions
I haven’t jumped, I have been coaching, I have some
training education, so it’s nice to use it sometimes
too. I love it here in Szczyrk, it’s so close to
the facilities, you can just walk back and forth
to the hotel, it’s a nice small town. And I really
like the hill here, it’s a very good training hill
and very effective, you can have a lot of jumpers
at the same time.”
The Norwegian ladies ski jumping team has decided
not to take part in any of this summer's competitions
(except for the COC in Lillehammer and some Norwegian
Cup events at home). When asked if they were working
out a secret strategy for the Olympics, Sagen laughed
that the whole team was training in hiding, but
then added seriously, “We stayed at home and jumped,
not spending a lot of money to travel and compete.
We have also been to Voss last week for a team building
mini-camp, 2 days, we were in the wind tunnel, and
rafting, and had a lot of fun. We have not started
any special preparations for Sochi yet. My training
this year was a little bit different than before,
little less strength, more athletics, and I have
not been jumping so much, but everything is as it
should be. So I am looking forward to the snow coming.”
When asked if she will join the team in training
in Wisla on the big hill there, Sagen said, “I don’t
have too many jumps. I am going to Oberstdorf and
Trondheim also the next couple of weeks, so I’ll
get a chance to jump on a big hill. Right now I
just want to jump and have fun, take a lot of speed
and go far. That’s pretty much what I am doing right
now.”
Sagen has no regrets about not taking part in this
summer's Grand Prix series, "I don’t like ski
jumping on plastic, I like the snow much better,
so I’m really looking forward to winter. I am not
a big fan of summer. I am not too disappointed,
I had no plan to compete anyway, even if the team
were.”
Still, the Norwegian does not deny that she followed
her fellow jumpers’ results with interest, “It looks
like the level is high as ever. We’re getting more
and more athletes from more countries, and that’s
very good, it’s making the sport definitely more
interesting. And it was also very nice to see the
mixed event on the big hill (Courchevel, FRA), that
looked really fun. We'll see, maybe that’s our future
as well, hopefully. We are not different from guys
in this respect, most of us like the flying part
the best and you can definitely fly longer on the
big hill, so of course we would like to compete
more on big hills, but I think we have competitions
in big hills now in winter. So that’s really good
and we just take it step by step. I am really hopeful
for the sport’s sake in the future, and I think
it’s going to be really big.”
The upcoming winter season is not only an Olympic
season. For the ski jumping ladies it is going to
be the very first Olympic Games in the history.
There was no excuse to avoid asking Anette of her
hopes and expectations for the Olympics. “Of course
I would love to be on the podium. The level is very
high, so I have to work really hard, just do my
best and will see afterwards. I really want to have
good jumps in the competition. I really like the
hill in Sochi. It worked well for me and I had a
podium result there (World Cup event in December
2012), so I am ready. I have the same feeling about
Olympics as I did before the first World Championships
(Liberec 2009). All of us are winners even before
the event, because we’re finally there. It’s the
first Olympics, we made it and we’re making history,
so I think it will be super exciting just to walk
into the opening ceremony, all of it is going to
be exciting. I have watched too many Olympics on
television, just hoping that one day I can be part
of it as well, now we are, so that’s fun.”
We have also found out that there will be a new
edition to the Norwegian team the upcoming season.
Helena Olsson Smeby, who already competed in the
World Championships in Liberec in 2009, is coming
back after she’s had a baby. We shall then see the
first “flying mummy” in the hill.
The World Cup Season of 2013/14 will start for the
ladies with competitions in Lillehammer (NOR). The
mixed team event will be carried out on December,
6th, the individual event on the HS 100 hill will
be held the next day.
