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„I really like seasons with just the World Cup“
1 July 2015 года
„I really like seasons with just the World Cup“
Looking at the Norwegian team previously to the 2014/15 season, there were many athletes that came to mind when thinking about potential winners and podium candidates but Jan Schmid was not necessarily among them. After the last winter, things were looking quite differently. Clear the stage for Jan Schmid and his take on the past season, his current shape and the next steps on the way in this new edition of TUESDAY TALK.

With an overall seventh rank, you ended your season on the same career-best overall position that you held in 2009. How satisfied were you with the last winter?


Jan Schmid: I’m very satisfied with last season until the World Championships, where things didn’t go as planned. I started a bit slow in Kusamo, but from Lillehammer until Val di Fiemme I managed to be in the mix almost every weekend. After two seasons where things didn’t work out at all, it was really nice to see that I was back on a level where I was competitive on a regular basis.

Sadly I couldn’t bring this form and confidence into the World Championships the way that I’d hoped, and I travelled home from Falun not quite understanding what went wrong. The fact that I got sick for the two home competitions at the end of the season ended my hopes of beating my personal best in the World-Cup overall.

As an athlete who has also crossed the 30-year-mark, did you spend any thoughts on retiring after this past winter? Or do you - especially in view of your performance last winter - feel that you’re also getting better and better with age?

Schmid: I spent a lot of time making my mind up after Sochi. I had a really poor season in 12/13 where I was sick for most of the winter, and then the mediocre season and resulting non-selection for the Olympics served as a nice “kicking while already down”.

But when I decided to continue after Sochi, I didn’t spend much time contemplating retirement this spring. I got back up this winter and feel that I’m still improving. I also really like the seasons with just the World-Cup. But I’m definitely at a year-by-year point in my career now.

With a victory in the Norges Cup, the season preparation seems to be going quite well for you, too. Which things are you mainly working on to improve for the next winter?


Schmid: The preparation is going pretty much according to plan. I’m following a similar build up as last year. I’m focusing almost exclusively on cross-country base-training from May-July, and then I switch into a Nordic-combined mindset from August. The goal is to improve everything by a percent or two. Except my cross-country sprinting which is a lost cause, I don’t have any major weaknesses or strengths really; so I just try to improve everything by a little bit every year.

Due to the financial situation of the team, most of your training camps will take place in Norway this summer and the Summer Grand Prix is also not on schedule for you. Do you still feel that you will be able to prepare for the winter on a good level?

Schmid: I think so. I’d of course prefer it if the situation was different, but I think we can do the work that needs to be done at home. The downside is that we don’t get to experience the implementation of the new suit-measurement-rules, and that we don’t get to test our level against the other nations before the season starts.

As in every year, the Summer Grand Prix will also act as a test phase for potential rule changes. Do you think the adjustment of the metre value on the large hill from 1.5 to 1.8 points is a good measure to balance the discipline better between ski jumping and cross-country skiing?

Schmid: I think it’s good. The combination of the increased meter value and the new body-height-measurement (which makes everyone “smaller”, and in a sense makes the BMI-rule obsolete), should push the balance a bit more towards ski-jumping again. The last decade has seen us moving the other way, so it’s nice to see it balanced out a bit.

And last but not least the obligatory question: in a winter without championships what are the personal goals that you would like to achieve in the upcoming winter?


Schmid: Like I said, I really like the seasons without major championships. I don’t like the inevitable breaks in the calendar in championship years, because I usually perform better when we compete every weekend. I also like that the World-Cup overall gets a bit more attention.

I don’t know about personal goals. It would be nice to make the Top 6, or maybe even the Top 3 in the overall. But mainly I’d like to be competitive from December to (sadly just) February…

Source: fis-ski.com



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