Just when things looked really dark for the Italian team with team leader Alessandro Pittin having a very bad season, his 23-year-old teammate Samuel Costa stepped out of his shadow and started to impress with his own results. A finish as World Cup overall 21st was his reward and Costa’s giant 142-metre jump with the following crash landing in Val di Fiemme will still be present in a lot of spectator’s minds. In TUESDAY TALK, the Italian spoke about his knee surgery at the beginning of the winter, new goals and his general outlook on life. You’ve had your best season in the last winter - maybe even a little bit surprisingly as you just came back from a knee surgery at the beginning of the winter. How did you way back from the sidelines to a 21st overall World Cup rank come to be? Samuel Costa: It was a really hard summer for me last year because I had to stop training a lot of times because of my knee. I focused a lot on my breath with breathing exercises and that turned out to help me out a lot. After the surgery in October, I trained very hard to come back with a strong knee. I would like to thank my physiotherapist Janis Facchini for the great work. I felt very fresh and relaxed at my first race in Ramsau, so after a good season start it was easier to continue with good results. You have been known as a stronger ski jumper but in the past winter, you really upped the level again. What did work better than in the past? Costa: Because of my knee I didn't jump so often in summer so I was very concentrated on every single jump. At home, my private therapist Gregor Comploi and I did a lot of mental training for ski jumping. Our goal was to focus more on quality then on quantity. Especially at your home venue of Val di Fiemme, you had an amazing jump which unfortunately ended in a crash. Was it rather painful or cool because it went that far? Costa: Already on the start gate when I saw the green light I knew that it would be a very long jump. It was very painful but very cool to watch it on the video afterwards as well. (laughs) If I could go back in the past I would do it again because the all the adrenaline that I had in this moment felt wonderful. How’s the training going at the moment? Will we see you at the Summer Grand Prix? Costa: Until now, the training went as planned. I am really happy that I can train without pain so I can enjoy every single hour of training. My body weight is not how it should be at the moment, so I am struggling a little bit in the jumping part but I still have time until November in Kuusamo to fix this issue. Maybe you will see me in Villach at the SGP before that. With your team leader Alessandro Pittin having a really bad season in the past, the focus was more on you to produce the team’s top results. Did you feel the pressure or was this not an issue for you? Costa: I never felt pressure during the season. In life things can change so fast like an injury or something else so I felt grateful every day I could participate in a race. I never think about what others expect from me. What are your goals for the next winter? Costa: It would be nice to show a good result in Lahti with my team and to concentrate on my goals: to stay healthy and to improve myself every day. Source: fis-ski.com