Andreas Widhölzl

Andreas Widhölzl
Andreas Widhölzl at Holmenkollen 2006
nation	Austria
birthday	October 14, 1976
place of birth	St. Johann in Tirol ,  Austria
size	180 cm
Weight	64 kg
job	Social pedagogy student, moderator, ski jumping trainer
Career
society	SC Fieberbrunn
National squad	since 1991
Pers. Best	231.0 m ( Planica 2005)
status	resigned
End of career	2008
Medal table
Olympic medals 1 × 0 × 2 × World Cup medals 2 × 0 × 1 × SFWM medals 0 × 2 × 1 × JWM medals 0 × 2 × 1 × ÖM medals 3 × 1 × 1 ×
winter Olympics bronze 1998 Nagano team bronze 1998 Nagano Normal hill gold 2006 Turin team  Nordic World Ski Championships bronze 1999 Ramsau team gold 2005 Oberstdorf Team normal hill gold 2005 Oberstdorf Team large hill  Ski flying world championships silver 2000 Vikersund singles bronze 2004 Planica team silver 2006 Tauplitz / Bad Mitterndorf singles  Ski jumping junior world championship silver 1993 Harrachov singles silver 1993 Harrachov team bronze 1994 Breitenwang team  Austrian championships gold 2001 Ramsau Normal hill gold 2001 Stams Large hill gold 2002 Villach Normal hill bronze 2004 Villach Large hill silver 2006 Bischofshofen Large hill
Ski jumping world cup / A class jumping
Debut in the World Cup	January 3, 1993
World Cup victories (individual)	18 ( details )
World Cup victories (team)	06 ( details )
Overall World Cup	02. ( 1999/2000 )
Ski flying world cup	03. (1997/98)
Jump World Cup	02. (1999/00)
Four Hills Tournament	01. ( 1999/00 )
Nordic Tournament	01st (1998)
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Single jump 16 14th 13  Ski flying 2 3 1  Team jumping 6th 7th 5
Ski jumping Grand Prix
Overall Grand Prix	01. ( 2002 )

Andreas Widhölzl (born October 14, 1976 in St. Johann in Tirol ), nicknamed Swider , is a former Austrian ski jumper , world champion and Olympic champion. He has been the head coach of the Austrian ski jumpers since spring 2020.

Widhölzl started ski jumping at an early age and from 1993 jumped regularly in the World Cup. By 1998 he rose to be the best Austrian ski jumper. Between 1997 and 2000 the Tyrolean won two Olympic bronze medals, two world championship medals and a total of 16 world cup competitions. In addition, he won the Four Hills Tournament 1999/2000, this season he finished second in the overall World Cup. In the following five years Widhölzl only won the World Cup once, but in 2005 he was double world champion with the team and a year later also team Olympic champion. After health problems, he ended his 15-year World Cup career in March 2008, in which he had triumphed in 18 individual competitions. This makes him one of the six most successful ski jumpers in his country to date.

Career

Beginnings in ski jumping (1983 to 1993)

Andreas Widhölzl watched ski jumping on television at the age of four or five. At this time he also joined the Tyrolean Ski Association and learned to ski, among other things . When Widhölzl was seven years old, a kindergarten friend convinced him to come with the Fieberbrunn Weitenjäger to train. After a few years, Widhölzl had his first successes - victories at the district and Tyrolean championships in the respective age group. The association supported the family, who lived in modest circumstances, by paying for parts of the equipment for the young jumper. At the age of twelve, Widhölzl took part in a competition in Natters as the favorite and serial winner and broke his collarbone on the 30 meter hill. This was followed by a month-long injury break in which he missed the national school championships, but otherwise had no consequences. This was the only major injury in Widhölzl's career as a ski jumper.

When Andreas Widhölzl finished secondary school in Fieberbrunn at the age of 14, he was supposed to learn a trade in Eisenerz at a boarding school for skiers in parallel to jumping training. The junior consultant of the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV), Paul Ganzenhuber , campaigned personally for the successful youth jumper, as he feared that Eisenerz was not the right place for the talented ski jumper. So Widhölzl was able to switch to the more renowned Stams ski school . Most of the successful Austrian ski jumpers were trained there. Widhölzl's training in Stams was partly financed with a share of the income from the Four Hills Tournament. In addition, there was state funding from the state of Tyrol and a scholarship based on the Austrian's school grades. Widhölzl described the first months at the ski school, which he attended between 1991 and 1995, as tough because of the completely planned daily routine. During the almost daily training sessions, he learned the V-style , which at that time became internationally accepted in the early 1990s. The Austrian had the advantage that he was still relatively young when the change came; other older athletes had greater problems with this.

In 1991, in his first year in Stams, Widhölzl became a member of the C-team of the Austrian Ski Association. First victories in international competitions followed in the 1991/92 season. After a short time, Widhölzl moved from the C to the B squad. Associated with this was a coach change to his youth idol Andreas Felder . Its training was dominated by strength programs, but the coordination skills of the ski jumpers suffered. Nevertheless, Widhölzl competed in the World Cup for the first time at the age of sixteen. At the beginning of January 1993 he was nominated for the third competition of the Four Hills Tournament 1992/93 in Innsbruck on the traditional Bergiselschanze . Widhölzl managed to qualify for the final and finally reached 24th place. He achieved a similar result three days later in Bischofshofen , where he placed 28th. In the same winter, two months later, he won the silver medal behind Janne Ahonen at the Junior World Championships in Harrachov . The Austrians achieved the same result in the team competition, where only the Finns achieved more points. In addition to these successes, there were also victories at low-class cups in Widhölzl's seasonal record.

From B-squad athlete to World Cup winner in four years (1993 to 1997)

Promotion to the national team (1993 to 1995)

In the following season 1993/94 Widhölzl doubted his career as a ski jumper, although he achieved some other successes, such as victories in the national junior championship or in the Alpine Cup and the bronze medal in the team at the junior world championships. On the one hand, a life as a competitive athlete seemed to be full of privation; on the other hand, he was not as successful as in the previous winter. At the age of 17, however, he met his future wife, who persuaded him to keep going. In fact, he was able to motivate himself better again and had his best season to date next winter. In retrospect, Widhölzl described this phase as "adolescent" and a "teenage crisis".

At the beginning of the 1994/95 season , Widhölzl benefited from the fact that four jumpers from the national team were suspended because of disputes in the area of ​​head sponsoring with the ÖSV. As a result, some athletes moved from the B-squad to the national team, including Fieberbrunner. Although several ski jumpers start early in the World Cup , Widhölzl was one of the youngest among the world's elite at the age of 18. In his very first winter he impressed with several top ten placements. In addition to a seventh place as the best individual result, he reached 18th place in the overall ranking of the Four Hills Tournament. At the end of the season, Widhölzl finally placed 26th in the overall World Cup, making him fourth-best Austrian. Overall, the newcomer to the World Cup was proud that he could compete with the world's best ski jumpers for a whole season, but regretted that he was often not able to maintain the placings from the first round due to his nervousness. Since the Austrian team with Andreas Goldberger at the top was very well staffed at Widhölzl's early days, he did not feel the pressure of the media, which he found positive. As one of the most consistent Austrian ski jumpers of the season, Widhölzl also took part in his first Nordic World Ski Championships in Thunder Bay , Canada, in March 1995 . After a mediocre normal hill competition, which the debutant finished 26th, the team competition followed, in which the Austrian team had high expectations. The head coach at the time, Heinz Koch, trusted Widhölzl and nominated him as a starting jumper. However, the inexperienced newcomer was too ambitious and unable to cope with the nervous strain. Both of Widhölzl's jumps landed on the upper part of the hill, the porch, at 89 meters. The best athletes jumped up to 40 meters. Austria finally finished sixth and last in the team competition, the head coach Heinz Koch resigned immediately after the competition because of his wrong decision. His successor was Andreas Felder, who had trained Widhölzl in the B-team a year earlier. The two young jumpers themselves had no consequences.

Establishment among the world's best (1995 to 1997)

Andreas Widhölzl graduated from the commercial school in Stams in 1995 with a good certificate and began his eight-month military service with the Austrian Armed Forces . The ski jumper was then a member of the Army Sports and Close Combat School (HSNS) of the Federal Armed Forces for seven years. In the winter of 1995/96 he continued his World Cup career. His new roommate became Stefan Horngacher , who had returned to the national team after a one-year break from illness and developed into a leading figure for Widhölzl, who was seven years his junior. Until the end of his career in 2002, the more experienced Horngacher gave his team mate advice and made him aware of technical weaknesses.

In terms of sport, the season started a little weaker than the previous one, with Widhölzl missing the points in the first three competitions. He later explained that he always had a bad start to the season because his skis regularly didn't feel right in the first World Cups. Even at the Four Hills Tournament Widhölzl did not build on his previous year's performance and only came in once among the top twenty. After an increase in January, he made it onto the podium for the first time in Iron Mountain , finishing second behind Jens Weißflog and ahead of the Finn Ari-Pekka Nikkola . For the then 19-year-old that was “a special experience and a very special day”. At the end of the season there were two more highlights with the team: the first World Cup victory in Oslo on the Holmenkollbakken and the bronze medal at the Junior World Championship. Due to the top ten results at the end of the season, Widhölzl came in 20th place in the overall World Cup with 320 points, making him the third best Austrian behind Goldberger and Reinhard Schwarzenberger.

Widhölzl also missed out on the points in the first competitions of the 1996/97 season . The results improved towards the Four Hills Tournament , where he finished 14th in the overall result. He also regularly jumped into the top twenty in other competitions, so that in February 1997 he was called up again to the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim . After a ninth place in the individual on the normal hill, he also jumped again - in third position - in the team competition. Also at this world championship, the Austrian team missed the expected medal in fourth place; this time it was Martin Höllwarth who, as the second starter, did not jump far enough. Immediately after the World Cup, the first Nordic Tournament was on. After a team competition in Lahti , which Austria finished in second place, an individual competition took place in the same place the next day. Strong gusts of wind hindered the first pass on the Salpausselkä ski jump . Widhölzl was best able to deal with these conditions and led after the first jump. When the jumping was then canceled, he had won his first World Cup. The 20-year-old also achieved good results in the rest of the season's competitions. As a result, he was third in the final classification of the Nordic Tournament and in the overall World Cup as fifteenth, the second best Austrian.

Number one in the Austrian team (1997 to 2000)

Olympic medals and World Cup victories (1997/1998)

At the beginning of the 1997/98 Olympic season , the coach of the national team changed again, Andreas Felder was followed by the Finn Mika Kojonkoski , with whom all communication had to take place in English. Andreas Widhölzl described Kojonkoski as a “perfectionist across the board”, who paid particular attention to team spirit. In addition, the coach from Kuopio introduced a jump simulator to better practice the jump as a crucial part of ski jumping. Widhölzl started the winter with a top ten place for the first time when he finished sixth in Lillehammer . In Predazzo in December he achieved the first podium result of the season in the third competition, a third place behind Jani Soininen from Finland. Two weeks later, Andreas Goldberger returned to the World Cup in Engelberg after being suspended for cocaine abuse . Again, public attention turned to him, the media speculated that Widhölzl would recede into the background after Goldberger's comeback. But he won the World Cup on the large hill in front of his roommate Stefan Horngacher, Goldberger was only tenth. In the following Four Hills Tournament he did not repeat this success, but achieved seventh place in the tournament thanks to a fifth place in the final competition in Bischofshofen - Goldberger as fourth had only fifty points more. Two further fourth places in mid-January confirmed Widhölzl's position as a manager in the Austrian team, Andreas Goldberger even missed the points in these competitions. At the Ski Flying World Championships , Widhölzl was the only Austrian to reach the top ten in ninth place, and in Sapporo he won the last competition before the Olympic Games . Due to Goldberger's return, however, the climate in the team had deteriorated overall, which also caused the performance of many Austrian jumpers to decline. Widhölzl also had problems immediately before the World Cup in Sapporo, but then, together with Stefan Horngacher, found a technical impurity which he improved and finally won the jumping.

In addition to the Japanese, who were favorites at the Olympics in their own country, the Germans and the Finns, the Austrians traveled to the Olympic Games in Nagano as one of the strongest teams to date . In the team competition, which was the first of the three competitions on the schedule, Widhölzl took the position of the final jumper after Andreas Goldberger was not nominated for the team competition at all. Due to a snowstorm in Hakuba , where the Nordic competitions took place, the rankings changed frequently depending on the conditions that the respective jumper had; the Austrian team was initially in seventh place, before they took the lead in the meantime and then fell back to fourth place shortly before the end. As the last starter, Andreas Widhölzl overtook the Norwegians - with a "sensational jump" according to Mika Kojonkoski - and thus prevented his nation from remaining medalless. The 21-year-old was also the best of all 52 participants, which he described as a “secret gold medal”. The competition on the normal hill took place three days later. With two good jumps, the Austrian achieved third place behind Jani Soininen and Kazuyoshi Funaki, who were only two and one point better, respectively. Widhölzl benefited from a bad jump by the leader after the first round, the Japanese Masahiko Harada , who dropped to fifth place. Four days later, the Olympic debutant took part in his first Olympic jumping on the large hill. There he led the competition after the first round, had unfavorable wind conditions in the second attempt, achieved a small distance despite a good jump and thus lost all chances of the third medal in the third competition. This time Masahiko Harada placed a bronze medalist a tenth of a point ahead of Widhölzl; In the case of the Japanese, the judges had also overlooked the fact that he put his hand into the snow when landing. The media described the fourth-placed man as a “true Olympic champion”. Widhölzl was initially disappointed, but was later pleased with his two bronze medals.

Even before the Olympic Games, Widhölzl was doing well in the overall World Cup, with victories in Vikersund and Kuopio he improved to second place in this ranking. Now 58 points behind Kazuyoshi Funaki, who was ailing after the Olympics, the Austrian had the chance to take the lead and thus the yellow jersey of the front runner. With two second places in Lahti and Falun, he actually managed to overtake Funaki; at the same time he won the Nordic Tournament by finishing each of the five competitions in at least seventh place. At the end of the season there were only two competitions in Planica, which Widhölzl had to do well to defend the yellow jersey. Due to bad wind conditions, however, he only reached the 24th place in the first competition - which put him behind Funaki and the Slovenian Primož Peterka . In the last competition of the season, the Fieberbrunner placed sixth, but it was no longer enough to displace Peterka from the lead. With 1208 points, three times as many as in the previous year, Widhölzl ranked third overall in the World Cup, which was a success for the athlete, who was considered an outsider before the season.

Setbacks at the World Cup (1998/1999)

As in several World Cup seasons before, the winter of 1998/99 began with a less good result, a 29th place in Lillehammer, for Widhölzl, who has meanwhile become a favorite. After several placements around twelfth place, he won the new season for the first time in mid-December. In the Oberhof competition , which was characterized by poor weather conditions , Widhölzl held the lead after the first round and again benefited from an early termination. With the victory of the 22-year-old, a series of twelve competitions without a win ended at the same time for the Austrians. Widhölzl performed particularly well in training; However, he was often unable to transfer this to the competition. Also in the Four Hills Tournament he was three times best in qualification and twice leading after the first round, but only once winner - in the fourth and final competition in Bischofshofen. Despite another fourth place in the opening competition in Oberstdorf, he only managed 15th place in the tour evaluation, a deterioration of eight places compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, Widhölzl remained the strongest jumper in his team, between the tour and the World Championship that took place a month later he consistently reached the top ten seven times in a row.

The highlight of the season was the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1999 where Widhölzl won the last World Cup competition: on the Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze in Bischofshofen, which was also one of his favorite hills. Accordingly, public expectations were particularly high, which is why new suits were made especially for the major event. The untested material turned out to be worse than the used one, so the team started wearing the old suits. As a result, the team “received a kink”, particularly mentally, explained Widhölzl. In fact, the Austrian team only won one medal, the bronze one in the team competition, in which Widhölzl was once again sent off the hill as a starting jumper. In the two individual competitions, which were dominated by Germans and Japanese, Widhölzl was ninth on the normal and twelfth on the large hill, both times he was beaten by a teammate. His roommate, Stefan Horngacher, had a particularly good season, placing himself in front of Widhölzl several times. After the world championship, the Fieberbrunner missed the points in four of six competitions, the other two competitions he finished eighth. The defending champion, who had already lost all chances after the first two competitions, left the Nordic Tournament in March early to attend the birth of his first daughter. In the overall World Cup, Widhölzl retained his position as the best Austrian in seventh place, but compared to the previous year he scored almost 400 points less.

Four Hills Tournament Winner and Vice World Champion (1999/2000)

In the summer of 1999, Andreas Widhölzl competed in the Summer Grand Prix for the first time , where he and the team made it onto the podium twice. Then there was another change of coach. Mika Kojonkoski moved to his home country Finland as head coach, for which the former vice world champion Alois Lipburger , who had already worked at the Stams ski school, was hired. At the end of his career, Widhölzl described Lipburger as his best trainer, under whose guidance 95 percent of his jumps were good and he had stabilized overall. After a mediocre start to the season - the Tyrolean had skipped the very first competitions in Kuopio - the World Cup competitions in Predazzo were up, with the conditions constantly changing. On the first day of the competition, Widhölzl won by improving the hill record in both rounds. For the second day of the competition, the jury had chosen too long a run-up with which the first jumpers jumped a hill record. The competition was canceled and restarted after an initiative by the World Cup leader Martin Schmitt , Andreas Goldberger and other top athletes, and this time too Widhölzl triumphed. After this double victory, the Austrian achieved further top five results before the Four Hills Tournament was due again.

Although Widhölzl was in top form with four podium places within two weeks, it was not he but the German double world champion and overall world cup leader Martin Schmitt who was the favorite for the Four Hills Tournament. In fact, he won the opening competition in Oberstdorf ahead of Andreas Goldberger. Widhölzl was just ahead of Schmitt's team-mate Sven Hannawald in third place and was clearly behind with 16 points. On the big Olympic hill in Garmisch, where the traditional New Year's competition takes place, Widhölzl had at best finished eighteenth. On the previous New Year's Eve, the German TV broadcaster RTL , which had just started broadcasting, organized a big millennium celebration so that Widhölzl and other athletes could only sleep after midnight. Nevertheless, he triumphed ten points ahead of the Japanese Masahiko Harada and took over the tour leadership at “half time”, as Martin Schmitt lost more than 20 points in eleventh place. After the surprising victory, Widhölzl felt a lot of pressure, as the media now called for a Tyrolean's first victory in the third competition in Innsbruck. Head coach Alois Lipburger also trusted Widhölzl to win, he was "unbeatable when things go normally". With 114 meters he actually took the lead on the Bergiselschanze after the first round and jumped only slightly shorter in the second round, so that victory was certain. Martin Schmitt as second placed again lost several points to Widhölzl, who also won the fourth competition in Bischofshofen - his twelfth World Cup victory - and at the same time improved the previous hill record. In the tour evaluation, Widhölzl finally had a 25 point lead over Janne Ahonen, who pushed Schmitt into third place.

The next World Cup took place in Engelberg just two days after the Four Hills Tournament. Widhölzl, who fell ill for a short time after the tour, skipped the qualification and only started again in the competition, where he had to admit defeat to Martin Schmitt twice as third and fifth. At the end of January he achieved several top ten results in the Japanese competitions, shortly afterwards he won two competitions in Willingen over one weekend before the next major event of the winter, the ski flying world championship, was held in Vikersund . After winning the tour, Widhölzl was the favorite this time, a three-way battle between him, Schmitt and Ahonen was expected. But on the wind-prone Vikersundbakken , the competition developed unexpectedly again in poor conditions; After a serious fall of a Russian jumper, the favorites declared that they would not start and demanded that it be canceled and postponed to the next day. This was granted, on Monday the world champion was determined with three jumps within three hours. Finally, Sven Hannawald won, who changed his ski after a loophole in the regulations and triumphed ahead of Widhölzl and Janne Ahonen. Following the World Cup, Hannawald beat the Austrian again, this time on the Kulm , where Widhölzl jumped two meters further, but fell behind the Germans due to poor posture marks. Further top five results followed at the end of the season, including a second place in Iron Mountain. In the overall World Cup, however, he had to admit defeat to Martin Schmitt, more than 400 points behind, but defended second place from Janne Ahonen. In terms of points, the winter remained the most successful in Widhölzl's entire career.

Changing years (2000 to 2004)

Loss and regain leadership role in the team (2000 to 2002)

The Summer Grand Prix in August 2000 began for Andreas Widhölzl with a victory in Hinterzarten , after which he no longer followed this result and missed the top ten several times. Nevertheless, he went as a favorite in the 2000/01 season . Before winter, he told a reporter that he would go into the season calmly and not be put under pressure. The World Cup kick-off took place in Kuopio, Widhölzl came third in the individual competition behind Martin Schmitt and Sven Hannawald and placed second with the team the next day. After the Austrian had missed the top ten on both occasions at the second World Cup weekend in Kuopio, there was a four-week break due to the constant cancellation of jumping. After the break, the Four Hills Tournament was on, which Widhölzl competed as defending champion, but he did not see himself, but Martin Schmitt as the greatest contender for victory. At the first competition in Oberstdorf, the Austrian already lost all chances of overall victory when he landed on the stem at less than 90 meters in the first round and was eliminated. He only reached the podium again in the final competition in Bischofshofen, but in the overall tour rating, last year's winner slipped to 16th place. After the Four Hills Tournament Widhölzl achieved several good results in a row in the World Cup, but several times a teammate was better. Nevertheless, the Fieberbrunner remained a leading figure in the Austrian team; as the final jumper he secured second place behind Finland in the team competition in Willingen despite small technical weaknesses. On the way back from Willingen on February 4, 2001, Martin Höllwarth drove the car with Widhölzl and head coach Alois Lipburger. His car got out of control on a winding country road near Füssen ; the car skidded and finally hit a tree. The 44-year-old Lipburger died in this accident; Widhölzl and Höllwarth were in shock and then received psychological support. Anton Innauer took over the coaching position at short notice . Just ten days after the accident, the Nordic World Ski Championships were held in Lahti, for which Widhölzl had already been promised a safe starting place. Since the 24-year-old couldn't handle the hill in training and showed very bad attempts, the trainers changed the team again after consulting Widhölzl. Andreas Goldberger, who was in good shape, jumped back in the first team for the first time since 1998, Widhölzl was not nominated and left Lahti early, disappointed. The team finally won the gold medal, for the Tyrolean the departure, which was not discussed with the coaches, had no consequences. In the last four competitions, Widhölzl only achieved one top ten result and finished the season twelfth in the overall World Cup and third-best athlete in his country. He lost his role as number one in the Austrian team to Wolfgang Loitzl , who scored better in both the overall World Cup and the Four Hills Tournament.

After the Austrian team had successfully finished last season, Anton "Toni" Innauer kept the coaching post for the 2001/02 season . Andreas Widhölzl described Innauer as very ambitious, which is why the team often lacked looseness, which in turn meant that many things did not go smoothly., Widhölzl won once in the 2001 Summer Grand Prix , placing him in tenth place in the overall standings. In September 2001, Widhölzl clearly triumphed in both competitions of the Austrian championship, so he was back in first position in his team. Innauer described his training performance as true to scale and consistently good. Shortly before the start of the season, Widhölzl's ski switch from Atomic to its competitor Blizzard Ski caused a stir after the Austrian association had promoted it without consulting Atomic . Blizzard Ski argued that Widhölzl was more successful with the new skis than with the old ones. In fact, Widhölzl started the season with three results in the top ten. After two weaker jumps at the beginning of December and a short break to train, he continued this series and took part in the Four Hills Tournament in good shape . With a sixth place in Oberstdorf, a second place in Garmisch and another placement in sixth place in Innsbruck, Widhölzl kept the chances of a top placement for a long time. In the second competition in particular, he had a duel with the eventual tour winner Sven Hannawald - who was the first athlete to win all four competitions - and narrowly defeated him in the first round. After he was two meters short in the second round to oust the German from first place, Widhölzl complained of problems with his contact lenses; he thought he saw the 130-meter line and so started landing too early. As a result, the German coaches publicly annoyed the lack of respect for the winner. With a twelfth place in the last competition in Bischofshofen, Widhölzl fell back to fifth place in the overall ranking, but he was back as the strongest Austrian athlete. In Willingen and Zakopane, the 25-year-old was again one of the strongest jumpers; On the Japan Tour - which lacked many athletes who were preparing for the Olympic Games that followed immediately afterwards - he won all three competitions and moved up to the leaders in the overall World Cup, Adam Małysz from Poland and Sven Hannawald.

The team traveled to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City with a correspondingly high level of public pressure . There the results of the Austrians in the first training session were disappointing, the coaches lost their composure and made wrong decisions in the team line-up. Since the material from the other teams also looked better, the team became insecure, the mood became more tense and self-confidence waned. The competition went badly for Widhölzl on both the normal and the large hill, both times at least two teammates were better than him. The Tyrolean also missed an Olympic medal in the team competition, Austria only placed fourth behind bronze medalist Slovenia. After the Olympic Games, he no longer continued his pre-Olympic form, in the World Cup he was at best eighth, at the Ski Flying World Championships he was at least the best Austrian as seventh. Widhölzl finished the overall World Cup in a good fourth place, with Adam Małysz winning ahead of Sven Hannawald and the Finn Matti Hautamäki .

Decreasing successes (2002 to 2004)

After the lack of success at the major events at the beginning of 2002, Toni Innauer resigned from the coaching position and limited himself again to his role as Nordic Director of the Ski Association. His successor was Hannu Lepistö from Finland , who had already trained Matti Nykänen two decades earlier . In the spring of 2002, Stefan Horngacher also ended his career, but he remained on the team as a Kotrainer. Andreas Widhölzl did not get along well with Lepistö's tough training methods. Widhölzl described Innauer's successor as “one of the old school”, who trained roughly the same with all jumpers regardless of their prerequisites. However, at first he jumped consistently at a very high level, in the Summer Grand Prix he won five of the six Competitions and with it the overall ranking. At the end of August, the 25-year-old described his own form as very good. He also won the title on the normal hill at the Austrian championship - tied with Stefan Thurnbichler . The World Cup winter also began successfully with a World Cup victory in Kuusamo . Widhölzl finished the December competitions before the Four Hills Tournament with one exception - in Titisee-Neustadt he only came in 50th and last place - in the first six places. The Four Hills Tournament began for him with a 28th place in Oberstdorf, which made him fall out of the ranks of those who jumped for the tour victory. After he could not achieve any podium results in the remaining three competitions and only one place in the top eight, Widhölzl classified himself in the tour evaluation on the twelfth place, which he achieved only the fifth best Austrian result. In addition to the experienced athletes Martin Höllwarth and Andreas Goldberger, the young Florian Liegl and Thomas Morgenstern were also better. Overall, the team had strengthened and was clearly leading the Nations Cup, with newly cut suits also playing a role. However, the team members stated that the new material complied with the regulations and denied that it was cheating. Following the tour, Widhölzl stabilized again and placed in the top ten ten times in a row, including three times he made it to second place. At the 2003 World Championships he reached eleventh place on the large hill and showed the best performance in a weak Austrian team in the team competition, which was again not enough for a medal, but only for fifth place. For the normal hill competition, the Tyrolean did not feel in shape and gave his guaranteed starting place to a young colleague from his team, Christian Nagiller. While Nagiller was in 30th place, Widhölzl again left early to have time for his family. Austria won the World Cup team competition which took place immediately afterwards in Oslo, Widhölzl showed a good performance as the final jumper. He himself blamed the short break he had spent with his wife and children. Despite only one win of the season - Martin Höllwarth in sixth had achieved three - Andreas Widhölzl placed third in the overall World Cup thanks to constant performances. This season was the third and last in which he secured more than 1000 World Cup points, and it was also the last winter in which Widhölzl was the best Austrian.

In the summer of 2003 Widhölzl did not defend his title at the Summer Grand Prix and achieved a 13th place as the best result. In contrast, the winter started successfully, before the Four Hills Tournament, the Austrian had placed second and seventh place. Still, he felt out of shape and had particularly physical problems. Widhölzl followed the advice of his trainer Hannu Lepistö to train hard to get back in shape and also did exercises over Christmas. At the Four Hills Tournament he had no more physical reserves and clearly missed the top ten in all four competitions. After the tour, he had to leave the World Cup team for a weekend in order to do another special training, Thomas Morgenstern and Martin Höllwarth had now risen to the leading figures within the team competed in the second-class Continental Cup, where he immediately made it onto the podium three times in a row. In February 2004 he took part in the ski flying world championship in Planica, where he convinced as sixteenth and third best Austrian in the individual competition and was thus also nominated for the team competition, which was held for the first time at a ski flying world championship. As a starting jumper, with a good performance he contributed to Austria securing the bronze medal just ahead of Germany. At the end of the season, Widhölzl was no longer used in the individual World Cup. Due to the high number of non-nominations, he only ranked 29th in the overall World Cup, which was the worst place in this ranking for him in a decade. Widhölzl saw one reason for the poor results in the fact that the relationship with his coach Hannu Lepistö had deteriorated after the athlete criticized the Finn's training council. Lepistö, under whom only Martin Höllwarth and Thomas Morgenstern had improved, was dismissed after the season, the reason given by sports director Toni Innauer, among other things, was that Widhölzl had not found access to him.

The years before retirement (2004 to 2008)

Ski flying record holder and double world champion with the team (2004/2005)

Alexander Pointner followed Hannu Lepistö as head coach. At the beginning of Widhölzl's career, Pointner was a ski jumper himself and a teammate of the Fieberbrunners, so the two Austrians got on well. Widhölzl described his new trainer as very professional, and at the same time he was also a confidante. In the summer of 2004, the Tyrolean achieved good results at the Summer Grand Prix and accordingly took part in the first World Cup of the season in November after leaving the A-Team at the end of last winter. Widhölzl confirmed his summer form by finishing in the top ten twice at the season opener in Kuusamo and placing third in both competitions a weekend later in Trondheim . The 28-year-old explained his constant performance with a change in technique that made his jumps more stable., After further top ten results, he was once again one of the expanded favorites for the Four Hills Tournament . At the first tournament in Oberstdorf, however, Widhölzl retired - for the first time in the season - in the first round; its width, 106.5 meters, was not enough to beat the young German athlete Kai Bracht in a direct duel. The Austrian was disappointed and surprised negatively at the same time, but Alexander Pointner also attested that he had a personality development, thanks to which he mentally coped better with the early departure. In Garmisch and Innsbruck, the athlete achieved solid results in ninth and sixth, while he improved by eleven places in the competition on Bergiselschanze in the second round. After a 16th place in Bischofshofen, he also achieved exactly this result in the overall classification. In Willingen, Widhölzl placed fifth. The Norwegian head coach Mika Kojonkoski had previously raised allegations against him and the Austrian team because, in his opinion, their jump suits did not conform to the rules. After a qualification check, Widhölzl and his teammate Thomas Morgenstern had to change their suits, otherwise the incident did not result in any consequences. A week later, the first ski flying competitions of the winter were on the program. At the Kulm near Tauplitz / Bad Mitterndorf , the 28-year-old won his 18th World Cup competition on January 15, 2005 after 777 days without a triumph - since November 2002 in Kuusamo. With the best of the day in the second round, he pushed the Norwegian Roar Ljøkelsøy, who had been leading up to that point, into second place. On the second day on the Kulm, Widhölzl came close to winning, but this time, as the leader in the second round, he fell behind Adam Małysz. The World Cup victory was followed by another series of constant results between fifth and tenth place, as well as a victory with the team before the World Cup took place in Oberstdorf at the end of February .

At the Nordic World Ski Championships 2005 - for the second time since 2001 - two team competitions were held, both on the normal and on the large hill. First, however, was the individual competition on the normal hill. Alexander Pointner preferred the experienced Widhölzl to Florian Liegl despite weaker training distances, as he had improved significantly in the last attempts. As the 25th he finished the first competition as the worst of the four Austrians, but Pointner nominated him as the second jumper for the upcoming team competition on the smaller hill. Widhölzl showed a good performance there and thus contributed to Austria becoming world champion. For the Tyrolean, this meant his first gold medal at a major event, having previously won four world championship and Olympic bronze medals as well as a silver medal in the ski flying world championship. With the first big title, Widhölzl felt strengthened for the remaining two competitions, especially since he liked the large hill better than the normal hill on which he had won gold. In the individual competition on the large hill, however, he only placed 17th and was again the lowest ranking athlete of the overall disappointing Austrian team. Still, he remained optimistic; he had problems with the shoe binding that have now been fixed. The remaining team-mates also saw opportunities for another victory in the second team competition, despite the moderate performance. In fact, Austria achieved another triumph in the last competition in the same line-up as in the normal hill competition. Again Widhölzl presented himself better than in the individual competition and felt it was "really cool" that he was allowed to start twice in the team and thus won double gold.

Widhölzl skipped the first Nordic Tournament after the World Championships in Lahti at the beginning of March when he was suffering from flu, then he reached the top ten three times and set the new hill record in Oslo. As in previous years, the season was concluded in Planica on the world's largest ski jumping hill, Letalnica . Two years earlier, Matti Hautamäki from Finland had set the world record of 231 meters on this hill . On the first day of training, Andreas Widhölzl managed a flight to 234.5 meters, which was not recognized as a world record because the Austrian fell on landing. The reason for this was the bursting of a seam in the shoe that could not withstand the pressure. Immediately after Widhölzl's great width, the competition jury shortened the approach by two hatches, so that the subsequent widths were smaller. In the first round of the Saturday jumping, the Austrian showed another very good jump and took the lead with 227.5 meters. In the second round he was overtaken by Matti Hautamäki, who jumped shorter but achieved better posture marks. The difference between the two ended up being a tenth of a point. Bjørn Einar Romøren , who flew the best distance of the day of 228.5 meters in the second round, was also just behind . The next day the last competition of the season was held. With 231 meters in the first attempt, Widhölzl set the world record in the meantime, but then Janne Ahonen jumped another 2.5 meters. In the last round of the season, the Tyrolean reached 227.5 meters and improved to third place. One jump earlier, Bjørn Einar Romøren had flown at 239 meters and stood his attempt, this world record set at the time lasted until 2011. The 231 meters that Widhölzl jumped in the first round was the Austrian record for three years before Gregor Schlierenzauer reached 232.5 meters. Andreas Widhölzl finished the successful season in eighth place in the overall World Cup. With 999 points he placed behind his teammates Höllwarth and Morgenstern, but he had re-established himself as a jumper in the first team.

Olympic victory in the team (2005/2006)

In the 2005 Summer Grand Prix , Widhölzl did not reach the form of the previous summer and only placed 47th. Nevertheless, Alexander Pointner still saw the 29-year-old as a beacon of hope before the season, especially in ski flying. Widhölzl was the leading Austrian athlete in this discipline, having posted good results there a year earlier. The 2005/06 season began for him with five top ten results in a row, before this series broke with eleventh place despite the best distance in the second round in Harrachov . At the start of the Four Hills Tournament , Widhölzl achieved the best placement in Oberstdorf for four years - with sixth place he was the last remaining Austrian with a chance to win after Thomas Morgenstern and Wolfgang Loitzl were eliminated after the first jump. Although the Four Hills Tournament that winter was not the highlight for Widhölzl, he expressed optimism after the first successful competition; he knows that he can win with the current shape. The head coach Pointner also counted his athletes among his favorites when - unlike the first competition - he had good conditions. However, the jumper lost the chances of another overall victory in Garmisch, after a material problem with the safety strap of the right ski binding, he was eliminated as 31st in the first round. After two solid competitions in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen, he was ultimately 18th in the overall standings, which was the worst placement in ten years.

Due to the Olympic Winter Games in February, the ski flying world championship , which Widhölzl had declared to be his personal highlight of the season, was unusually early in the program, right after the Four Hills Tournament in mid-January. The world championship took place at the Kulm, where the Austrian had won his last World Cup competition, the “dress rehearsal” a year before. Accordingly, he was viewed from many sides as a candidate for a medal, and he himself assumed a good result. In the first of four flights of the individual competition, he landed at 205 meters, which put him in the lead in front of his teammate Martin Koch and the Norwegian Roar Ljøkelsøy. On the same day, Widhölzl jumped more than 20 meters shorter in the second attempt in bad wind conditions, which meant he fell back to fifth at "half-time". One day later he got a higher number of points than the immediate competition in both rounds and improved by three places. Ljøkelsøy, who had taken the lead after the second round, lost only a few points to the Tyrolean and won the gold medal, but right behind Widhölzl achieved the silver medal for the second time since 2000. Also in the next two places were two Austrians - Thomas Morgenstern and Martin Koch - so the team took on the role of favorites for the following team competition. However, this was disappointing; after a 95-meter jump by Andreas Kofler with a strong tailwind, Austria already lost 130 points to the best nations. Andreas Widhölzl, as the final jumper, also did not confirm his previous day's performance with two jumps, which he finished before the 190-meter mark, so that the team was more than 200 points behind the winning team from Norway in fourth place.

In addition to other World Cup events, Widhölzl used the month after the Ski Flying World Championships to train for the Olympic Games , which took place in Turin in mid-February . The first of three competitions there was jumping on the normal hill, for which Widhölzl, however, figured fewer chances than for the large hill competition. Nevertheless, Alexander Pointner nominated him for the first competition after he had convinced in training. After a “not so good” first jump and a slightly better second attempt, according to Widhölzl, he placed 17th in the midfield. He achieved 21st place on the large hill, while his teammates Thomas Morgenstern and Andreas Kofler won the gold and silver medals. In the final team competition, Widhölzl showed another solid performance as a starting jumper. As Morgenstern and Kofler confirmed their form from the individual competition, the Austrian team won just ahead of Finland. For the first time, the team from the Alpine country triumphed in the Olympic team competition that has been taking place since 1988. For Widhölzl, the Olympic title - eight years after the two bronze medals in Nagano - meant the last highlight of his career and his ninth medal at major events outside the junior area. At the same time, alongside Martin Höllwarth, who made it onto the podium four times at the Olympic Games, and Heinz Kuttin, he is one of the few Austrian athletes with three Olympic medals (as of 2009).

At the last jumping of the winter, Widhölzl improved his form again. In Lahti, he and the team won the start of the Nordic tournament and at the same time improved the hill record significantly. With three other top ten results, he placed eighth in the overall ranking of the tournament. Widhölzl also successfully contested the World Cup final in Planica with a sixth and a tenth place. Due to the good post-Olympic results, he reached tenth place in the overall World Cup and became the third best jumper in his country. With this, Widhölzl had confirmed the tendency of the previous season and prevailed as a veteran against his teammates who were up to ten years younger.

Relegation to the B-Team and end of career (2006 to 2008)

Widhölzl (left) second in the Summer Grand Prix in Klingenthal

After several average results and a second place in the 2006 Summer Grand Prix , Andreas Widhölzl changed his technique one more time. Before the winter season he announced that he would be jumping with an improved first flight part, especially for the overall World Cup. At the same time, the 30-year-old said, despite his age, he was hoping to participate in the next Olympic Winter Games. At the Austrian Championships in October he won the silver medal in jumping on the large hill after a weak normal hill competition, which he finished eleventh. Widhölzl started the World Cup season with back and groin pain in the opening competition in Kuusamo. In very changeable conditions, he was 59 in qualification. In the following four competitions in Lillehammer and Engelberg, Widhölzl only reached the points once in twentieth, while 16-year-old Gregor Schlierenzauer joined the national team straight away in his first full season. Other team members also jumped further than Widhölzl, whose vocation for the Four Hills Tournament was uncertain. In order to be nominated as the seventh team member for the tour, he took part in the internal qualification for the last starting place, a Continental Cup in Engelberg , at the end of December . There he triumphed in front of two other applicants and thus secured his 13th start on the tour. This was mediocre for Widhölzl, at least he made it into the second run three times and thus placed 22nd overall. He achieved a significantly better result at the Ski Flying World Cup in Vikersund. In the first round he used favorable wind conditions and took the lead with the best distance of the day of 212.5 meters, in the second attempt he landed almost 40 meters earlier, but still placed sixth overall. However, this result remained an isolated case. After Widhölzl did not make it into the top twenty in Oberstdorf either, at the end of January he voluntarily decided not to take part in the World Cup in Sapporo a few weeks later and justified this as follows:

“ I did everything I could to get in shape. Unfortunately it didn't work this year. I don't want to get more chances than others because of my name. The others deserve to fight for their starting place now. I would like to clear my head first and then I will prepare for the remaining jumps in March at the Nordic Tournament and in Planica. "

This waiver was followed by a week away from the World Cup, before Alexander Pointner surprisingly nominated him again for the jumping in Klingenthal and Willingen. With a 14th and a 13th place Widhölzl convinced and sometimes jumped further than the nominees for the world championship, but Pointner had definitely ruled out a subsequent appointment regardless of the athlete's performance. At the world championship Austria defended the title in the team competition. As a result, the four gold medal winners - Wolfgang Loitzl, Gregor Schlierenzauer, Andreas Kofler and Thomas Morgenstern - consolidated their status as leaders. Andreas Widhölzl took part in the rest of the World Cups, but did not get a top ten placement in either the Nordic Tournament or the season finale. In the overall World Cup he was 33rd with 158 points and for the first time failed to place in the top thirty. In the team's internal ranking he had dropped from third place after the previous season to eighth place.

In the spring of 2007, Widhölzl underwent a groin operation after having had constant problems in the pre-winter season due to a “soft groin” that prevented him from crouching down completely. After the operation, he could no longer train properly, poor results meant that he was no longer in the national squad from May 2007 and was transferred back to the A-squad, the second team. There he first started in the Summer Continental Cup , where he was also successful with two wins and fourth place overall. In winter, Widhölzl's performance also deteriorated in this low-class series. As a result, unlike Martin Höllwarth, who was also relegated to the back, the 31-year-old did not have the chance to be nominated for the Four Hills Tournament, where he would have started in the "national group". Nevertheless, Widhölzl continued to aim to "jump for the medals" at the ski flying world championship in Oberstdorf . In order to achieve this, he tried in vain to attract attention as a forerunner at the World Cup in Harrachov in order to be nominated. Instead, he was offered to open the world championship as a pre-wrestler. Widhölzl took this opportunity before he announced his retirement from competitive sports on March 7, 2008. On March 14th he ended his career with a performance at the World Cup finals in Planica, which was celebrated by the public. Widhölzl himself stated that it was difficult for him to end his 15-year World Cup career, but he felt that the time had come. In addition, he does not regret that he did not resign after the 2005/06 season when he was still celebrating successes. Two months after Widhölzl, Martin Höllwarth also ended his career.

Professional career (since 2008)

Already in October 2006, while still active, Andreas Widhölzl founded an online sales agency together with a friend that deals with goods sales via eBay . Since the end of his ski jumping career, he has been spending more time as an entrepreneur. Among other things, his internet exchange sells used sporting goods from prominent athletes; Widhölzl is responsible for this business area. He is also studying social pedagogy in Stams in order to become a qualified social pedagogue within three years. Widhölzl also works as a junior trainer in Wörgl , after completing his training as a trainer at the end of 2008. During the Four Hills Tournament 2009/10 he acted as an expert for the TV station Eurosport .

Since May 2013, Widhölzl has been working alongside head coaches Alexander Pointner and Heinz Kuttin as assistant coach for the Austrian national ski jumping team. In spring 2020 he finally succeeded Andreas Felder as head coach of the team.

Jump style

In his career, Andreas Widhölzl frequently changed his technique, for the first time when he switched from parallel to V-style during his time at the Stams ski school. Nevertheless, his successes throughout his career mainly concentrated on the big hills. Of the 49 podium results in individual competitions, he only achieved one on a normal hill . In contrast, more than 85 percent of his top three results came from a competition on the large hill, and he made it onto the podium six times in a ski flying competition .

For a long time, Andreas Widhölzl's jumping style - similar to that of the Norwegian jumper Roar Ljøkelsøy - was characterized by the fact that his skis ran extremely flat after jumping off the edge of the take-off. Compared to other ski jumpers, it took a long time until the gap between the upper body and ski was closed and body and material formed a closed system. However, due to the lower air resistance after the jump, Widhölzl was able to take a lot of speed with him for the last third of the flight and, due to the flat flight curve, landings in the high range were easier.

In an interview in 2005, Widhölzl explained his earlier style with the fact that he jumped sharply into the direction of the take-off at high speed, which helped to achieve good results , especially when there was an updraft . When there was a tailwind, however, he had major problems in the phase immediately after the jump, which meant that his performance fluctuated greatly in unfavorable thermal conditions. The outdated style of the Austrian was also seen as very risky by other quarters. In order to achieve his goal of overall World Cup victory, the Tyrolean changed his technique and jumped higher from now on, which should allow him more constant distances. Widhölzl saw another reason for this change in the changing material. The jump suits had become thinner during his career and thus offered less air resistance than the old, additional material. The style change lasted nine months, as Widhölzl had used the earlier technique for over a decade and had made a special impression on him.

Even with the modernized technology used since the mid-2000s, Widhölzl still got along better on large than on small hills. Before the ski flying world championship in 2006, he said that ski flying suits his style perfectly. In fact, especially in the late career years, he developed into one of the most successful athletes in this discipline on the Austrian team. However, since there were only five 200-meter jumps during Widhölzl's active time , competitions in ski flying took place much less frequently than jumping from smaller jumps; sometimes there was no more than one ski flying competition per season.

Personal

Andreas Widhölzl was born on October 14, 1976 in St. Johann in Tirol as the youngest of four siblings - he has a brother ten years older and two sisters a few years older. His parents were both waiters, and his mother was also a cook. The family lived in Fieberbrunn , a town with four thousand inhabitants , where Widhölzl spent his childhood, which he described as "modest but happy" and "carefree". After initial concerns about the risk of injury, his parents supported him with ski jumping and were happy with their son about the successes. They also supported Widhölzl financially, although some of the equipment was paid for by the association. After four years in elementary school , he switched to secondary school, where he met his future wife. When they were both 17 years old, they began a solid friendship and shortly afterwards they moved to an apartment near Innsbruck in Leutasch . The first of three children was born in March 1999; thus Widhölzl was one of the few fathers among the top jumpers in the World Cup field. In May 2000, after more than six years of relationship, he married his girlfriend. The ski jumper was also accompanied to some competitions by his wife and daughter, for example to victory at the Four Hills Tournament in Innsbruck or to his last World Cup in Planica in 2008. The currently five-member family has lived since 2001 - the couple had a son in 2001 and a second in 2004 Daughter - in a house in Mieming .

Andreas Widhölzl usually got along well with his competitors, both inside and outside the team. In his biography he writes that it was common practice to drink a beer together in the evening, that one always respected one another and recognized the achievements of the other. Widhölzl's career ran parallel to that of Janne Ahonen for a particularly long time; already at the Junior World Championships in 1993 both had jumped against each other. In addition to the comparable career, Widhölzl also sees similarities in appearance, as both athletes were rather reserved in interviews. Widhölzl also competed against Sven Hannawald at an early age, at first the two jumpers were often confused with one another. The Tyrolean describes Hannawald as "very success-oriented, but open and friendly". Widhölzl also particularly positively highlights his two competitors Adam Małysz and Martin Schmitt in his biography.

Relationship with the media

In the media, Andreas Widhölzl was often described as reserved, he had no airs . The ski jumper himself commented on his appearance in his biography:

“ Some said it was arrogance if I didn't get into the spotlight. But I didn't want to pretend, not for money, not for success, not for fame. I always just wanted to be the Andi that I am. The picture that the media has drawn of me is not made up. I'm just a quiet, down-to-earth guy [...]. "

He also explained that it was important to him that he always stood behind the things for which he was asked. When the then provincial governor of Carinthia, Jörg Haider , wanted to be photographed together with Widhölzl after the ski flying world championship in 2006, he declined because of his political convictions.

In 1997, Widhölzl's teammate Andreas Goldberger declared that he had consumed cocaine. After that, both he and the entire Austrian team were publicly attacked. Widhölzl gave an interview to the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) as spokesman for the team, in which he strongly criticized Goldberger's drug use. After this statement, the Fieberbrunner was accused - among others by Goldberger himself and his manager - of wanting to oust his teammate from the top position in the team. Widhölzl saw himself misquoted and obtained an apology. In retrospect, he stated that his relationship with Goldberger had improved again later. Widhölzl also had other negative experiences with the media when private false reports were published.

After winning the second competition of the Four Hills Tournament in 1999/2000 and taking over the lead in the tournament evaluation, local media built a high level of expectations on Widhölzl. In reference to the Battle of Bergisel , Austrian newspapers demanded the "first Tyrolean victory since Andreas Hofer on Bergisel". With the victory actually achieved, the ski jumper's popularity also increased. In a ranking of the most important Austrians - led by the Viennese magazine News - he rose from 426th place to 78th place. The Austrian won the Four Hills Tournament in Germany as well. Following the triumph in the third competition of the event, the ZDF SPORTstudio invited him . Widhölzl canceled, however, because he wanted to spend time with his family. In portraits and newspaper articles he was then often referred to as a family man. Widhölzl himself confirmed this; Ski jumping and the public are secondary to private life. In the summer of 2009, one year after the end of his career, he published his biography Mein Höhenflug in the publishing house SCM Hänssler , which belongs to the Christian Media Foundation (SCM).

Awards

Following the 1998/99 season, Andreas Widhölzl received the Golden Teapot for the first time, which is awarded to the most popular Austrian athlete. In the two following years the Tyrolean defended his victory in the Nordic skiing category . He himself was particularly pleased with the award "because it was not awarded by any experts, but by the 'people'." After winning the Four Hills Tournament in 1999/2000, a jury selected Andreas Widhölzl as Tyrol's athlete of the year. The prize was awarded at Ambras Castle near Innsbruck. In addition, he came in third place in the "Sportsman of the Year 2000" election by the Austrian sports journalists on November 3rd, 2000 (behind the alpine runner Hermann Maier and the Olympic gold medalist Christoph Sieber). The next big award for Widhölzl was the title as Austrian athlete of the year 2005 in the team category together with the three other team members who had become double world champions in Oberstdorf. A year later, the number of votes for the national ski jumping team was not enough to defend the title despite Olympic victory. With 45 points behind the Nordic combined team - also Olympic champions - Widhölzl and his team-mates placed second.

For his successes he received the Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria in 1998 and the Gold Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria in 2005 .

literature

• Andreas Widhölzl, Heinz Schnürle: My soaring flight. SCM Hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-7751-5050-7 .

Web links

Commons : Andreas Widhölzl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Andreas Widhölzl in the database of the International Ski Association (English)
• Interview Andi Widhölzl. ( Memento from April 19, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) on skispringen.com.rtl.de. December 11, 2001.
• You always brake yourself. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . December 28, 2005.
• Widhölzl flutters into the Adler pension. on sportlive.at. March 12, 2008.

Individual evidence

All internet sources were accessed on October 27, 2009. Older versions are saved in the Internet Archive .

1. ↑ Andreas Widhölzl is the new head coach of the Austrian ski jumpers. March 31, 2020, accessed March 31, 2020 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 31-36
3. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 46-49
4. ↑ Andreas Widhölzl - Career ( Memento of the original from May 6, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on fieberbrunn-info.at. Widhölzl's results up to 1999. 
5. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 52-53
6. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 55-57
7. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 58
8. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 73-74
9. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 107-108
10. ↑ ^{a b} Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 78-79. These two pages are reference for this and the previous section.
11. ↑ Uwe Jentzsch: The "Flea" is supposed to keep jumping in 1996. In: Berliner Zeitung . March 20, 1995, accessed September 11, 2015 . 
12. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 79-80
13. ↑ ^{a b} Athlete profile: Andreas Widhölzl ( Memento from May 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Released February 3, 1998.
14. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 82
15. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 89-91
16. ↑ "Goldi" back, everything should be golden and normal on welt.de. Published on January 5, 1998 in the newspaper Die Welt .
17. ↑ Austrian Widhoelzl wins World Cup large hill meet on shinmai.co.jp. Published February 5, 1998 in Kyodo News . "The Japanese are heavy favorites in the team competition in Nagano as well as the individual events at the Winter Games opening Saturday in central Japan."
18. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 124-126
19. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 126-128
20. ↑ Frightening conditions - Widhoelzl wins ski jumping event in fog, high winds ( Memento from May 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Released on December 12, 1998. "I was surprised myself because I haven't been able to bring my training performances into competition, said Widhoelzl."
21. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 128-129
22. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 155
23. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 92-93
24. ↑ Jens Weinreich: A Tyrolean as regent on the Bergisel on berlinonline.de. Published on January 4, 2000 in the Berliner Zeitung .
25. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 11-29. These pages are reference for the entire paragraph.
26. ↑ Lars Becker: Reinhard Heß: "Widhölzl is the top favorite" on spiegel.de. Published on February 8, 2000 in Der Spiegel magazine .
27. ↑ Jürgen Fischer: Winners fly 210 meters on welt.de. Published on February 9, 2000 in the newspaper Die Welt .
28. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 136-138
29. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 118
30. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 105-106
31. ↑ Martin Schmitt - who else? on spiegel.de. Published on December 27, 2000 in Der Spiegel magazine .
32. ↑ Finns superior winners - Malysz hill record on news.at. Published February 3, 2001 in News magazine . "The squat is a little too high and it is currently slowing over the stem, revealed the ÖSV trainer via Andreas Widhölzl."
33. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 93-94
34. ↑ Widhölzl couldn't get along with Schanze at all on news.at. Published February 16, 2001 in News magazine .
35. ↑ ^{a b} Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 131
36. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 121-122
37. ↑ Well ahead of Höllwarth and Goldberger on news.at. Published September 30, 2001 in News magazine .
38. Jump up ↑ Ski-Pool: Whirlwind about Blizzard on boerse-express.com. Released on October 24, 2001. "The competition is in their shirts because Widhölzl jumped straight back onto the podium with us in the summer."
39. ↑ Widhölzl and Loitzl back on news.at. Published December 19, 2001 in News magazine .
40. ↑ Jens Weinreich: Longing for the series on berlinonline.de. Published on January 2, 2002 in the Berliner Zeitung .
41. ↑ Widhölzl and the lack of perspective on spiegel.de. Released January 1, 2002.
42. ↑ Jens Weinreich: Tears in the snow on berlinonline.de. Published on January 8, 2002 in the Berliner Zeitung .
43. ↑ The Austrians blow the attack on spiegel.de. Released January 27, 2001.
44. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 122-123
45. ↑ Furthermore, “Everything is great” from Andi Widhölzl ( memento from November 11, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) on skispringen.com.rtl.de. Released August 30, 2002.
46. ↑ Andi Widhoelzl and Stefan Thurnbichler are champions of the normal hill ( memento from September 19, 2011 in the web archive archive.today ) on skispringen.com. Released October 12, 2002.
47. ↑ Kathrin Zeilmann: Unknown flying objects on berlinonline.de. Published on January 2, 2003 in the Berliner Zeitung . “There can be absolutely no question of cheating,” said Höllwarth indignantly. Our suits comply with the regulations. "
48. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 117
49. ↑ Innauer's tour balance sheet: "Winning has become difficult" on news.at. Published January 7, 2004 in News magazine .
50. ↑ Christian Meyer: Widhölzl jumps from the Wurmbergschanze on newsclick.de. Released January 24, 2004.
51. ↑ Ex-Springer duel for ÖSV chief post on derstandard.at. Published on March 22nd, 2004 in the newspaper Der Standard .
52. ↑ Report from the competition in Trondheim on sportsplanet.at.
53. ↑ The start of the tour in Oberstdorf: Ahonen wins ahead of Roar Ljökelsöy and Adam Malysz on news.at. Published December 27, 2004 in News magazine . "It is a pity. I didn't think it would go so badly. "(Andreas Widhölzl)
54. ↑ After a disappointing start in Oberstdorf: The ÖSV team doesn’t let their heads hang on news.at. Published December 30, 2004 in News magazine . "Apart from the result, he praised Widhölzl because he dealt with the end mentally and also in terms of body language much better than before."
55. ↑ Discussion about jump suits : Austria's eagle confronted with accusations of cheating on news.at. Published January 10, 2005 in News magazine .
56. ↑ Goldi thinks about it, Swida wins on sportjahr.at.
57. ↑ Andreas Widhölzl wins on Kulm: With 206.5 meters to victory on the first day! on news.at. Published January 14, 2005 in News magazine .
58. ↑ Decision made in the Austrian team: Liegl is not in the first jumping competition! on news.at. Published February 18, 2005 in News magazine .
59. ↑ Adler on the rise: Liberated “Swider” wants the next coup on news.at on the large hill . Published February 23, 2005 in News magazine . "I know that I'm definitely better on the big hill." (Andreas Widhölzl)
60. ↑ Loitzl in seventh place - ÖSV eagle on the large hill without a chance for a medal! on news.at. Published February 24, 2005 in News magazine .
61. ↑ Triumph for Austria: ÖSV eagles get their second gold on the large hill! on news.at. Published February 25, 2005 in News magazine .
62. ↑ Ski jumping: Austria in third place in the Lahti team competition - victory for Norway on news.at. Published March 5, 2005 in News magazine .
63. ↑ Ski jumping: Matti Hautamäki celebrated his fifth World Cup victory en suite in Oslo on news.at. Published March 13, 2005 in News magazine .
64. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 132
65. ↑ High- flyer Schlierenzauer on derstandard.at. Published on March 14, 2008 in the newspaper Der Standard .
66. ↑ ^{a b} Austria's eagles aim high on wienerzeitung.at. Published on November 9, 2005 in the Wiener Zeitung .
67. ↑ The sons-in-law are missing on wienerzeitung.at. Published on December 29, 2005 in the Wiener Zeitung . "Andreas Widhölzl even admitted that this time the event is not necessarily at the top of his priority list."
68. ↑ Alex Pointner after the tour kick-off: "It hasn't gone that way for us this year" on news.at. Published December 30, 2005 in News magazine .
69. ↑ Big disappointment, small germ on derstandard.at. Published on January 2, 2006 in the newspaper Der Standard .
70. ↑ ÖSV eagles clear: silver and bronze at the Ski Flying World Championships - but gold for Norway on news.at. Published January 12, 2006 in News magazine .
71. ↑ “Swider” is already very hot to fly: Widhölzl am Kulm is one of the top favorites on news.at. Published January 12, 2006 in News magazine .
72. ↑ Thomas Hahn: Favored by gusts on sueddeutsche.de. Published on January 16, 2006 in the Süddeutsche Zeitung .
73. ↑ Turin air show starts today: ski jumpers have to qualify for normal hill on news.at. Published February 10, 2006 in News magazine .
74. ↑ Morgenstern missed the podium: second half-time failed on the second flight on news.at. Published February 10, 2006 in News magazine .
75. ↑ Happonen's first World Cup victory in ski jumping from Lahti on nzz.ch. Published on March 5, 2006 in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung .
76. ↑ Ski jumpers have big goals: Widhölzl wants to achieve the overall World Cup victory on news.at with a new style . Published October 17, 2006 in News magazine .
77. ↑ Gregor Schlierenzauer wins both championship titles ( memento from January 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on skispringen.com. Released October 15, 2006.
78. ↑ Pointner trusts his eagles too much on oe24.at. Published on November 22, 2006 in the Austrian newspaper . "In the past two weeks he has had back and groin pain that bothered him a lot." (Alexander Pointner)
79. ↑ Ski flying world cup in Norway: Morgenstern in Vikersund just second behind Jacobsen! on news.at. Published January 14, 2007 in News magazine .
80. ↑ Widhölzl gives up the fight for the World Cup ( memento from May 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on sportlive.at. Released January 30, 2007.
81. ↑ Malysz outperforms the rest of the world: Pole also takes second jump in Titisee-Neustadt on news.at. Published February 4, 2007 in News magazine .
82. ↑ New ÖSV teams for Nordic skiing: Widhölzl no longer competes in the national team in 2007/08 on news.at. Published May 7, 2007 in News magazine .
83. ↑ http://www.kleinezeitung.at/sport/schi/696857/index.do (link not available)
84. ↑ Schiflug-WM: Andi Widhölzl is there as a forerunner ( memento from November 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) on kleinezeitung.at. Published on February 22, 2008 in the Kleine Zeitung .
85. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 187
86. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 190-198
87. ↑ skispringen.com: Andreas Widhölzl becomes assistant trainer in Austria on skispringen.com. Released May 8, 2013.
88. ↑ Andreas Widhölzl is the new head coach of the Austrian ski jumpers. In: Skispringen.com. March 31, 2020, accessed March 31, 2020 . 
89. ↑ Olympiacheck - Team Austria ( memento from September 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) on skispringen.com .
90. ↑ "You always brake yourself" ( Memento from February 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on sueddeutsche.de. Published on December 28, 2005 in the Süddeutsche Zeitung . The interview is the reference for the entire paragraph.
91. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 152-153
92. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 162
93. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 135-141
94. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 108
95. ↑ ^{a b} Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 37
96. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 112-115
97. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 13 and 28
98. ↑ Portrait of the 23-year-old Austrian ( memento from September 9, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) on rp-online.de. Published on January 6, 2000 in the Rheinische Post .
99. ↑ Portrait: Andreas Widhölzl (AUT) ( Memento from January 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on skispringen.com.
100. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. Pp. 102-103.
101. ↑ Widhölzl, Schnürle: My high flight. P. 20
102. ↑ «It's crazy - I get goose bumps»; Kärntner Tageszeitung from November 4, 2000, pages 50 and 51
103. ↑ Dorfmeister, Raich and Nordic Combined win. on oe1.orf.at. Released October 19, 2006.

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on December 9, 2009 .