SKI JUMPING. Joachim Winterlich is one of the most experienced coaches in ski jumping, for some time he's now working with the Bulgarian team around Junior World Champion Vladimir Zografski. With FISskijumping.com he spoke about his best athlete, working in Bulgaria and the big goals for the upcoming winter.

Emil Zografski, Vladimir Zografski and Joachim Winterlich, photo © FIS

FISskijumping: Joachim, you were coaching some well-known athletes. How exactly did you finally get to work in Bulgaria?
Winterlich: That’s right, I was already coaching many athletes from different associations and countries. So I had the chance to work with some good jumpers – like, for example, Jens Weissflog, Roberto Cecon and Andreas Kuettel. After a short break I returned back to Germany and worked at the Olympic training center in Oberwiesenthal, what was also a very interesting time. Then I could a call of FIS race director Walter Hofer, who informed me about the request of the Bulgarian Ski Association. Too many different philosophies of the local coaches led the Association to the conclusion that they want to hire a foreign coach with experience.

What is the motivation to work in such a small ski jumping nation like Bulgaria?
- At the time of the call I actually had decided that I don’t want to work and travel the world anymore. But then I went to Bulgaria, met with the officials and got a first impression of the athletes. I saw potential in some of the young kids, one of them was Vladimir Zografski. At the end this task seemed so interesting that I decided to take the job – and also hired Vladimir’s dad, Emil Zografski, as assistant coach. When I now look back on the past four years of our cooperation I can only confirm that this was the best decision.

What kind of athlete is Vladimir, how would you describe him?
- Vladimir is a very sensitive athlete, who puts a lot of thought into everything he does. That also shows at the hill. But he evolved enormously, even if he doesn’t reach the physical level of Gregor Schlierenzauer yet. He still has room for improvement concerning the coordination skills and also the inrun position is not perfect yet. There are some things that we have to work on in order to close the gap to the world class. Right now we also have a totally different problem. Vladimir suffered a knee injury when he landed a jump in training in Almaty. In spite of medical treatment it didn’t get better so he was not able to do the physical training as we planned. He will now see a specialist in Munich and maybe an MRI will be necessary.

What was the reason for Vladimir’s disqualification at the Summer Grand Prix in Hinzenbach?
- The last disqualification of Vladimir was a long time ago, that was at the 4-Hills-Tournament in Innsbruck when he was 300 g too light. Of course we are close to the limits of the regulations in this sport most of the time, that’s why you have to be take care of your body and your equipment carefully. As far as Hinzenbach is concerned, Vladimir got warnings because of his suit a couple of times. I was not in Hinzenbach but was informed that Vladimir’s suits got the okay of our tailor. At the end the suit was too big, three centimeters at the waist and one centimeter in the crotch.

How important is ski jumping in Bulgaria?
- You have to know that there’s not much going on in most sports in Bulgaria anymore. So the focus is on Vladimir and he has already become a celebrity in his home country. The interest in him is huge, so it’s, for example, not unusual that the president himself asks about him. But Vladimir is now moving to Innsbruck together with his family. This will mean a lot less travelling for him, it is located centrally and there are many training possibilities like Stams, Innsbruck, Seefeld and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

You are not only working as a coach, but you were also very active in a different field over the past years …
- The new inrun track systems, as they are used at the pilot project in Klingenthal for a while and now also on the normal hill in Oberstdorf and in Sochi, are a hobby of mine. I got involved with the subject after the ski flying World Championships in Vikersund 2000, where there were big problems with the inrun track. I caused this development, so to speak. By now, a real market developed in this field and think that’s very positive. Competition is good for business and technical progress is very important for ski jumping.

Last January you expressed some criticism. Did the working conditions In Bulgaria get better?
- My current approach to working as a coach in Bulgaria is very positive, even if this sounded different a couple of months ago and there were some disagreements concerning the equipment. The Ski Association supports us completely. I’m also totally satisfied with the summer. Of course, Vladimir always wants to be in the Top 6. But I’m a realist and don’t want to go too far. The last results were absolutely okay. From my point of view it’s a big success to consistently achieve results between the places 15 and 20. What Vladimir has achieved so far cannot be ranked high enough. In the future we want to continue like that and keep on working.

Do you talk about goals for the season within the team?
- We want to have a good start and probably participate in all competitions from the World Cup opening in Kuusamo to the 4-Hills-Tournament. Then we will decide what the plan for the second part of the season will look like. Actually the ski flying World Championships in Vikersund are our main goal. Vladimir is good in flying and so we want to use our opportunity there.

FISskijumping.com
11.10.2011 09:35

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