Heinz Kuttin: "We start from zero"

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Since April Heinz Kuttin is the head coach of the Austrian ski jumpers and successor of Alexander Pointner. The 43-year-old, who won two Gold medals at the World Championships 1991, had to end his career 1995 due to injury. Besides various positions at the nordic training center in Villach, he was head coach of the Polish team from 2004 - 2006. In our series "FIS Ski Jumping-Talk" Kuttin spoke about his new task.

FIS Ski Jumping: When Pep Guardiola became coach of the FC Bayern Munich last year, many said that he can only lose because the team had just won everything. Austria has been the most successful nation in ski jumping in the past ten years. How difficult is it to follow in the footsteps of Alexander Pointner?

Heinz Kuttin: (laughs) That doesn't carry the same weight. It's clear for me that we started at zero this year and it's the beginning of a new era. Many people played their part in what happened over the last years. Fact is, that two athletes retired, the rest of the team remained the same. This means that there won't be any major changes. Apart from the Olympics, last season was pretty successful. So I think it will continue in a similar way.

FIS Ski Jumping: You were a very successful athlete yourself and had to retire due to injuries, the high risk sport ski jumping took its toll. Do you fully understand the decision of Thomas Morgenstern to retire?

Kuttin: Thomas didn't retire due to an injury, he was training 100 % again, was in a top shape physically. At the end he saw that in ski jumping you have to be able to fully trust yourself and the equipment. There are certain dangers that you have to face. Now, after about half a year, he realized that he doesn't want to deal with certain things anymore and decided that he wants to start a new part of his life. As a coach you have to accept this. He achieved a lot in sports, he was a model athlete.

FIS Ski Jumping: What impressions did you gain during the first sixth months as head coach?

Kuttin: A lot of positive ones. I was already part of the system as head of the training center and the basic principle didn't change. We just had some new ideas. We were competing again in summer and considered it an indicator for the current level of performance, developments concerning the equipment and the physical fitness. In doing that, we have further developed many things and worked a lot. We also changed some things concerning the transition from hard training to vacation and got positive feedback for that.

FIS Ski Jumping: What will be the biggest challenge for Austrian ski jumping in the near future?

Kuttin: The whole system. Over the past years I was not only working as a coach, but also as a technical delegate. So I got to know ski jumping from a different perspective. What's important is, that the athlete knows he is very well prepared and can be relaxed when he has to deal with certain conditions. There are competitions, in which it's not your fault when it's not going well. Because there simply is pressure of the media to carry out the events. So it's not possible that it's fair all the time. To analyze such competitions is the biggest challenge for me as a coach and the whole team.

FIS Ski Jumping: What are your goals for the upcoming season?

Kuttin: We want to implement exactly what we were working on in summer. Of course, everyone wants to win, get medals and win the 4-Hills-Tournament. But our goal is that at the end we can to say that we did a very good job.

FIS Ski Jumping: Which teams will be your main opponents? Who will be the one to beat?

Kuttin: Austria. And we have to beat everyone. The Norwegians started very strong in summer, the Polish team also had a good start, the Slovenes were strong in some periods. We have World Cups, the 4-Hills-Tournament, World Championships. There will always be ups and downs. At the end the strongest and most compact team will come out on top.

FIS Ski Jumping: How many World Cup competitions will Gregor Schlierenzauer have won by the end of his career?

Kuttin: I don't want to answer such questions. These numbers are not important for me. I wish him, just like everybody else on our team, as many wins as possible.

FIS Ski Jumping: What wishes do you have for your time as coach of the Austrian team?

Kuttin: A relaxed and satisfying working atmosphere. That's what I wish for until the end of my coaching career.

FIS Ski Jumping: Thank you very much and all the best for the Austrian team!

Nice!

[Tycior]

W sumie ignoruj se klikne

[TwojStary]

fajnie, bardzo się cieszę

[chuj]

Czemu po angielsku? Przypominam, że jesteśmy na polskim forum i takim językiem się porozumiewamy

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Because I just zrobiłem copy&paste from fis-ski.com and that's it. Rozumiesz? Tam strona po angielsku jest.