Things have certainly not been picture perfect for Slovenia’s number one athlete Marjan Jelenko in the past two winters. After a breakout season in 2012/13 resulting in a final 19th rank in the overall standings, the strong jumper worked on his cross-country performance. The result: noticeable weight and muscle gain but Jelenko’s class on the jumping hill was gone. A 27th and 47th rank in the overall standings in the following winters were the measurable result. But with a brand-new national title just under his belt, Marjan Jelenko would like to turn things around in the upcoming season. TUESDAY TALK spoke to the 24-year-old.

Together with your teammates Gasper Berlot, Luka Oblak and Joze Kamenik, you won the relay competition of the Red Bull 400 event in Planica earlier in autumn. Tell us a little bit about the experience!

Marjan Jelenko: Well, Jože Kamenik participated in the Red Bull 400 two years ago and saw that going alone the whole track is too hard. So he suggested that we go as a team and maybe we can win. We knew that athletes from Praga were only ones who could maybe beat us and we really had a hard fight until the third man with them. In the end Gašper had a very strong finish and we won! (smiles)

Coming back to Nordic Combined-matters: In the Summer Grand Prix, you didn’t make it to the very top of the podium and had to be satisfied with results around the 30th position. How do you evaluate the summer from your perspective?

Jelenko: In the summer my jumps in the competitions were really bad. I already had some good jumps in training this summer but I couldn't transfer the level into the competition. When you are used to start in front of the pack and then suddenly you start from the back, you are lost in the cross country part and just struggle the whole time. We did a lot of training in July and August so I was pretty tired in the Summer Grand Prix competitions.

Looking at the last season, your development probably did not go 100% to your taste. You gained a lot of muscle but didn’t have the results on the jumping hill anymore, resulting in a 47th position in the overall World Cup only. Did you change anything in your setup for the next winter?

Jelenko: Yes, at first I had to deal with my leg muscle injury which I had since January. So my leg was completely healed in July and then we were less focussed on fitness and power training and more on roller skis to lose the muscle I had gained the year before. For the future, I will have less weight to help me jump further and also to climb up the hills more easily. We also did some changes with our nutritionist and so far I am quite happy with the progress.

What are your goals for the upcoming World Cup season?

Jelenko: My goals are to be constantly in the Top 20. I would like to show long and nice jumps at all venues and to feel strong on all tracks. I just want to make step forward again not another step back like in last two seasons.

With Igor Jelen, you also have a new head coach. How are you getting along with this change in the coaching staff?

Jelenko: We get along really well. He listens to us and we listen to him so I feel we are doing very well as a team. But I think it’s really hard for him because he is our only coach which means he has to train two sports and work on all the administrative things with the ski association. But he is fighting and so are we! (laughs)

How will the time until the season start look like for you now?

Jelenko: Well, we just had our nationals on Sunday. Now we go to Innsbruck and Garmisch with our special jumpers. That will be a nice experience as we can learn a lot from them. Then we have the plan to go skiing on snow on the Dachstein glacier and when the snow will come in Scandinavia we will go there for a week to jump and ski to prepare properly for the season start.