Team Austria: Wind tunnel
test on the way to Sochi
Together with the Austrian special jumping team,
the Nordic Combined squad returned to the RTA Rail
Tech Arsenal wind tunnel in Vienna to work extensively
on flight and inrun positions. A full day of flying
and testing was waiting for Bernhard Gruber and
co. after the team arrived straight from a training
camp in Ramsau, Austria.
For newbies Sepp Schneider and Mario Seidl, this
meant the first test flights in a wind tunnel. In
the facility, all weather situations on earth can
be programmed within a few seconds - from actic
cold to tropical thunderstorms with 60°C. In contrast
to the real flight on a jump hill with about 8 seconds
of flight time, the jumpers have the chance to fly
two to three minutes and try to work on the comments
given by the coaches.
Christoph Bieler: "It was quite windy! (laughs)
But even though I have been here before, it's always
great to try new things. On the hill, you just have
a few seconds to do that, so you can take a couple
of things with you after a session in the wind tunnel.
A big thank you to the Rail Tech Arsenal for letting
us use their faciliies again and again!"