Even in his difficult times, ski jumping Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger never thought of ending his career prematurely.
“Fortunately, I never thought about retiring,” said the 27-year-old Bavarian at halftime in the Four Hills Tournament. But there were “depressing moments” around his cruciate ligament tear, Wellinger said. He became individual Olympic champion in Pyeongchang in 2018 and suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in June 2019. After that, he hasn’t been in his best form to this day.
Wellinger is on the up on the tour. He finished sixth in Oberstdorf and eighth in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. “The path is still happening. I will do everything to ensure that I continue to take the right steps,” said Wellinger in the team hotel on Lake Riess. He is looking forward to the upcoming competition at Bergisel in Innsbruck on Wednesday (1.30 p.m. / ARD and Eurosport).
“It’s three or four meters too little that you write at the front. We’re on a very, very good path. I’ll continue to tackle it fully motivated,” said Wellinger. National coach Stefan Horngacher is also satisfied with his protégé’s progress. “What he has done now was very, very good. We are very satisfied with that. You have to start in the top ten if you want to get back up there,” said the 53-year-old head coach.
