– It’s probably a jump that shouldn’t happen. A combination of a slightly too high speed and conditions that turn from tailwind to buoyancy and that you go from not being close to anything that works, to getting an ok jump. Then it suddenly took off, says Opseth to news. In the newly renovated normal slope in Granåsen, with a slope size of 105 metres, it was estimated that she eventually landed at 116–117 metres. Opseth himself posted a video of the jump on Instagram on Thursday evening. There you can clearly hear her screaming during the hover. – I was primarily shocked when I came out and got that height. I don’t quite know what went through my head, but it was almost a fear of death and that I thought: “Damn father, now I’m going to land flat and break every bone in my body”. There was a little horror that went through me, I think. However, the landing went better than she feared and Opseth says that she did not suffer any injuries. – Has become a mental barrier Opseth is this week over the World Cup races in the normal slopes in Hinzenbach and has struggled a lot with the jumping in the normal slopes this season. While she has three World Cup victories in big hills this winter, a fourth place from Japan’s Zao is the only top-ten finish in the normal hill race in the World Cup. After the race in German Hinterzarten on Sunday 29 January, she cried in the press zone after not even making it to the final round. – There has become a mental barrier in my head that says “you don’t get to jump on hills like that, Silje, so you just have to leave it alone”, said an open-hearted Opseth to news after the chutes in Hinterzarten. HEAVY: Silje Opseth has had many deep valleys this season. Photo: KAI PFAFFENBACH / Reuters – A jump like this in Granåsen, is it positive or negative in terms of a mental barrier? – Neither or, really, she says, and says that the most important thing for her now is to get good technical repetitions. – There is no great confirmation that I can achieve normal slopes, which is what I am working with. It wasn’t just what I did that made it go so far, she says about the long jump in Granåsen. Turbulent Opseth was after the chutes in Hinterzarten open during the winter has been “frustrating”. – There has been a lot of negativity lately, and I haven’t been able to have any positive feelings about it, Opseth said. – The season has been very turbulent. I have a lot of mixed feelings. My goal this year was to become more stable at the top. I feel it has become exactly the opposite of that. The top performances have been very good, and I will take that with me. But the valleys have actually been all the deeper. TEARS: There have been some tears at Silje Opseth this season, but the ski jumper is trying to look ahead. Photo: Terje Haugnes / news – They put in a huge effort there, the 23-year-old has always thrived best in bigger backers, but this season the differences have become big. The problems have hit her hard. – I came out a bit poorly at the first normal hill race in December. It has almost gotten worse and worse every weekend. On the normal slopes, the ski jumper has tried to create the same feeling she gets on larger slopes, but it has not been a success story. – I’ve really just drained myself of energy by creating a feeling that won’t come, Opseth said. Recently, the problems have only piled up. – I have both struggled technically, struggled mentally and actually become tired of my own train of thought. SUPPORT PLAYER: Coach Christian Meyer is an important piece for Opseth to get out of the negative spiral. Photo: Geir Olsen / NTB In the difficult period, the coaching team has been more important than ever before for Opseth. – The work the coaching team does to get me to put those thoughts away and focus on what I can do, and try to keep calm and have a bit of fun on the ground instead of getting hung up. They make a huge effort there, she said. A regular It is not the first time the coaching team has had to pull her out of negative spirals. At Lillehammer in December, Opseth was in tears after a 20th place finish. Throughout the night there was a long debrief, where the coaching team had to put Opseth in his place. The next day she hit back and took her third World Cup win. – I think it’s mostly in the head when it comes to the smaller slopes, said Christian Meyer, the women’s national team coach in jumping, to news. – Silje is a perfectionist, so she is good at finding things that she thinks she can improve on. In the end, it becomes so much that it is difficult to bring out what she is good at, added Meyer. The coach shares the same opinion as the student: Good experiences are needed to reverse the bad trend. – I hope that through success she will be able to build some self-confidence, and eventually also gain the belief that it is possible. That it is possible, there is no doubt, said Meyer. Now Opseth says that occasionally she has a few jumps that “fly away”, but that the total is too bad. – I feel it is more luck than anything else that I get it to hit every now and then. I prioritize training a bit and getting some good answers on the ground, she says. Opseth is unsure whether she will compete in the normal hill races in Rasnov, the last World Cup weekend before the World Cup starts in Planica on February 23 – with precisely a normal hill race.
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