Gregor Schlierenzauer will not participate in the next two World Cup competitions in Kuusamo (FIN) on Friday and Saturday. His place on the Austrian team will be taken by Florian Altenburger.

Schlierenzauer, who started the season with a 17th place last weekend in Klingenthal, will train in Lillehammer (NOR) instead. "We used yesterday to intensively discuss and analyze the competition in Klingenthal. The coaches and I now decided to skip the events in Kuusamo on Friday and Saturday and to train in Lillehammer together with coach Harry Rodlauer instead. I want to take the time to work on the whole package. Jumps on snow are probably best for that and the Lysgards-hill offers perfect conditions", told the 25-year-old.

Head coach Heinz Kuttin is also sure that the Tyrolean will benefit from the additional training sessions. "I'm convinced that Gregor is only missing smaller details right now. First and foremost it's the confidence in his whole package. In order to gain this as soon as possible, we consider training in Lillehammer the best option."

The rest of the team remains unchanged compared to the opener and will travel to Finland on Wednesday. Stefan Kraft, in Klingenthal the best of the Austrians in sixth, is already looking forward to the second stop of the season. "After I saw pictures of how winterly it currently looks in Kuusamo, the anticipation rose even higher. It's a hill on which you can fly really far and we want to enjoy it this weekend."

Source: fis-ski.com