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For a change: Austrians run up the hill
The Austrians know the hill in Bischofshofen inside out, but the perspective they got on Saturday was a little bit different.
Part of the Austrian ski jumping team participated in the Red Bull 400 Austria in two relays. This year, the race, where you have to run up a ski jumping hill, was held on the large hill in Bischofshofen instead of the ski flying hill in Bad Mitterndorf, where reconstruction is underway for the Ski Flying World Championships next winter.
The team with Thomas Diethart, Manuel Poppinger, Andreas Kofler and Stefan Kraft ran from the out run to the start of the Paul-Ausserleitner-hill in 02:18.04. This was enough to finish fourth, only about eight seconds behind the winners.
Gregor Schlierenzauer, Heinz Kuttin, Marko Maurberger and Hary Rodlauer were a bit slower and needed 03:15.5. They came in 18th.
For the jumpers this competition was a new and very exhausting experience. "It's really tough, you underestimate these 100 meters. And honestly: I prefer jumping down instead of running up. You get faster in the air and land with about 135 km/h - that doesn't work when you run", Andreas Kofler is quoted on redbull.com.
Stefan Kraft also had his problems with this challenge on his home hill. "At the beginning I thought: Full speed! But after 50 meters my legs really didn't do what I wanted anymore. It's something totally different for us, normally we do more speed strength training. But it's a great thing, really tough - respect to everyone who runs the whole 400 meters."
Source: fis-ski.com
Part of the Austrian ski jumping team participated in the Red Bull 400 Austria in two relays. This year, the race, where you have to run up a ski jumping hill, was held on the large hill in Bischofshofen instead of the ski flying hill in Bad Mitterndorf, where reconstruction is underway for the Ski Flying World Championships next winter.
The team with Thomas Diethart, Manuel Poppinger, Andreas Kofler and Stefan Kraft ran from the out run to the start of the Paul-Ausserleitner-hill in 02:18.04. This was enough to finish fourth, only about eight seconds behind the winners.
Gregor Schlierenzauer, Heinz Kuttin, Marko Maurberger and Hary Rodlauer were a bit slower and needed 03:15.5. They came in 18th.
For the jumpers this competition was a new and very exhausting experience. "It's really tough, you underestimate these 100 meters. And honestly: I prefer jumping down instead of running up. You get faster in the air and land with about 135 km/h - that doesn't work when you run", Andreas Kofler is quoted on redbull.com.
Stefan Kraft also had his problems with this challenge on his home hill. "At the beginning I thought: Full speed! But after 50 meters my legs really didn't do what I wanted anymore. It's something totally different for us, normally we do more speed strength training. But it's a great thing, really tough - respect to everyone who runs the whole 400 meters."
Source: fis-ski.com
