#4hills 22/23

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Translation because a few people asked for it!

I spent the evening on my own. I only drank a beer with Karl, he brought me a little 'comforting beer'. That was nice, we talked a bit. That's what a room mate and a friend is for, they can understand how you feel and that helped me a lot.

I read a lot of messages from home and from fans saying I shouldn't feel down about it. Don't worry, I'm not. But the first emotion coming up is just extreme disappointment.

After all, I'm still someone who lets his emotions show, especially when I'm so disappointed. I have no doubt that I will continue but I'm also someone who says I need to give the young ones a chance when I'm jumping so badly. I'm 31 now and I need to get some decent points.

Here's the quotes of Markus explaining how Karl helped him overcome the disappointment of Oberstdorf.

(Can provide translation later, if wanted.)

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United in misery

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"Today I'd like to do the interview in English. My head and all my school Deutsch is just gone." 💙

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Halvor speaking German is adorable!

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And ARD insisting it's Karl who changed the most in the last 7 days. Like - yes, he deffo improved as well but holy shit, Eisei, he's like a different person now .

okay, but what happened to eisei?? like seriously how did we go from only making it once to the second round during four hills to 140m at zakopane within a week??

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Team Norway celebrating Halvor and Halvor struggling with his flag <3

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Markus said in his interview he's gonna go somewhere and scream a bit because he's tried being calm and sensible for long enough now and it's not helping 😅

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Expectations, pressure and performance

I have a thesis: None of the current German A-team will ever win the 4 Hills (excluding maybe Consti and deffo Hille).

And here's why: The German media, German fans, Germany as a whole only care for Ski jumping when it's the 4 Hills or the Olympics. (The World Cup barely gets a mention in the Sports pages of most newspapers but currently they're covering the tour with long articles every other day). When they do though, all they care for are results. It's as if they believe they're owed success. They have expectations, they want wins. It was like that last year (then probably exacerbated by Karl going into the tour wearing the Yellow Jersey). It was like that at the Olympics (and then they weren't even satisfied with the two bronze medals we got). And it was like that again this year simply because it's been 21 (?) years since the last time a German won.

All of them, except Hille I guess, are probably carrying these expectations, this pressure. I obviously don't know what media coverage and public opinion and expectation are like in other countries. Did Norway expect a win because it's been 16 years since the last one? I have a feeling it is a German thing to always have to be the best. They don't accept 'your best', they want you to best everyone else. And I don't think (all) professional athletes need that added pressure. Most are already highly motivated in themselves - they all obviously want to do well. I really, really dislike the notion that someone owes it to their country to deliver or win. I think it's not helpful at all, it might even be harmful.

Look at who's doing well at the moment - I'd say it's those that not a lot of people were thinking of as favourites. I don't think many had Halvor on the list to win even just a few weeks back. (Look at Marius who was Norway's superstar, kind of, last season, and who's not performing the same way this year.) After last season, probably not many people had the Polish team down as serious contenders.

Less pressure = better performances? I'm sure there are other factors responsible for Germany's current problems as well. But yeah, I believe this mindset (that I perceive as very German) is one of the reasons.

I'm totally in favour of always striving to do your best. But your doing your best and being your best doesn't have to equal being better than everybody else.

Thoughts?

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It's like Karl and Markus are on some sort of wheel and now that Markus is going up, Karle is going down :( I just want the Doppelzimmer on top together

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I love teams celebrating when one of their own wins 💙 and to see Daniel there so happy for Halvor (achieving what he couldn't manage) makes me so happy in turn

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"So langsam ist der Ofen aus", says Karl.

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Markus got through to the second round, that's what counts for me xD

ah it’s a terrible day to be emotionally invested in team germany

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Karl seemed more relieved that it's gonna be over now than anything else

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Markus, with a big smile, after being asked what his conclusion is of today's jumps: "Finally got some points again."

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I could only watch the first round today so now I've been going through the tag and reliving the second round through you guys. And I just love how there's love and admiration for everyone who did well and compassion for everyone who didn't - no matter who they are and where they're from. It's absolutely what I love about the sport (because it seems to be like that among (most of) the athletes, too) and this tag!

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Who were they watching?