It is January 6, and the cold surrounds the Austrian town of Bischofshofen. At the top of the jumping hill sits Thomas Egner Granerud – ready to soar. Granerud jumps 143 metres, the competition’s longest jump, and can adorn himself with both the clean and overall victory in the German-Austrian show jumping week. – He concludes by showing who really is the king in the jumping week this year, says news’s jumping expert Anders Bardal after the historic moment. Granerud becomes the first Norwegian in 16 years to win the show jumping week. The road there started early. Halvor Egner Granerud celebrates his victory in the show jumping week. Photo: AP Photo/Matthias Schrader Imitating good ski jumpers In Lindmo, he says that he has been jumping a lot since he was very small. – Whether it was training or in the garden at home, I jumped a lot. And I always thought it was fun, says Granerud. He began to learn technique at an early age and was preoccupied with all the details surrounding the sport of jumping so that he could improve. Among other things, he admits that he often imitated good ski jumpers. – I have no idea how many jumps in Linderudkollen I’ve had where I’ve pretended to be Gregor Schlierenzauer (the winningest jumper of all time). – For me, it has also been important to have fun on the road, he adds. The head turns upside down But the period before the jump week was not particularly fun for the 26-year-old. – It is very easy for the head to get a little twisted. He had participated in four competitions where it had not gone so well. Where he did not realize his potential. – I thought that there are some competitions here that I won’t be able to do, and I started to fear the competition, he says. Halvor Egner Granerud in Oberstdorf. Photo: Terje Haugnes / news Throw out the thoughts The solution was to call their mental coach, namely Anders Meling. – We clean up and throw out all the thoughts and feelings around competition, and then we pick it from each other and put it back together. Together with Meling, Granerud managed to change the focus, and see it as a challenge instead of something scary. – After that I’ve been quite good, he says humbly. Alexander Stöckl, the coach of the Norwegian men’s national team in ski jumping, is impressed by Granerud’s steadfast dedication: – What is special about Granerud is that, regardless of level, he has always sought to develop and find the pieces that are missing in order to get a whole in the end , he tells. See Lindmo Friday on news 1 at 9.40pm or whenever you want on news TV.
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Halvor Egner Granerud received the help of a mental coach before the victory in the jumping week – news Culture and entertainment
