After some Austrian ski jumpers already gained experience in a different sport at the marathon in Vienna recently, the team now spent a few days in Salzburg to try out ice hockey.

The athletes and coaching staff of the first and second training group worked on their technique with professional coaches for four days, before the training camp concluded with a game on Friday. "The idea was to learn a new sport, that is very challenging for all of us, especially at the beginning. At the game today, you could see the progress everyone made and how ambitious everybody was. It was a lot of fun, but at the same time it got tougher every day", explained head coach Heinz Kuttin.

The jumpers definitely enjoyed this special kind of preparation for the new season. "It was a very exciting experience and we were all looking forward to it. It was something that most of us haven't done before", said Michael Hayboeck. Gregor Schlierenzauer agreed with his teammate: "It was great and I really liked it a lot. In our final game we played three thirds. At the beginning you have a lot of energy, but it diminishes pretty quickly. I think some now have appointments at the dentist."

After a week of training at the different training centers, the national team will meet again for the next camp in Tyrol. Besides sports medical tests also some longer mountain bike tours are planned there.

Source: fis-ski.com