Sven Hannawald once sent sports Germany into a ski jumping hysteria that has never been seen before. The ski jumping icon celebrates his 50th birthday on November 9th. To round things off, sport.de looks back at Hannawald’s greatest and, for a long time, unique triumph.
Tom Bartels didn’t lose his temper like he did in 2014 when Mario Götze shot Germany to become world champions in Rio. “He’s done it, the myth of the Four Hills Tournament has been defeated,” was all the RTL commentator said at the time – and let Sven Hannawald explode “in peace” in the run-out of the Paul Ausserleitner ski jump in Bischofshofen.
The rhetorical reporter trick caught on. The images of Hannawald celebrating his historic ski jumping Grand Slam with the noise of horns are still unforgettable today. How the burden is lifted from the 63 kilo lightweight, how “Hanni” screams with joy over his coup. How assistant coach Wolfgang Steiert throws his arms around DSV sports director Rudi Tusch and national coach Reinhard Heß pulls his cap. A collective outburst of emotions – at the ski jump and among millions in front of the television sets.
January 6, 2002 was, in a way, a ski jumping Big Bang. Hannawald achieved what no one had achieved in 49 tours since 1953: no Recknagel, no Wirkola, no Weißflog, no Nykänen. The then 27-year-old won all four competitions in the legendary German-Austrian ski jump series. He defeated the myth, as Bartels aptly captured at the moment of the Big Bang.
For 49 years, the Grand Slam was considered an impossibility, an unattainable ski jumping Olympus. Olaf Björnstad (Norway, 1953/54), Helmut Recknagel (GDR, 58/59), Max Bolkart (BRD, 59/60), Toralf Engan (Norway, 62/63), Björn Wirkola (Norway, 68/69), Yukio Kasaya (Japan, 71/72), Kazuyoshi Funaki (Japan, 97/98). They all won the first three competitions. All of them (except Kasaya, who was withdrawn from the Japanese association to prepare for the Olympics in Sapporo) failed to achieve the big thing at the final in Bischofshofen.
Ski jumping hysteria thanks to “Hanni”
Sven Hannawald got himself into a frenzy in the winter of 2001/02. After the home victories in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the daydreaming began – albeit with caution. Martin Schmitt also won the opening competition in 1998, only to crash on Bergisel in Innsbruck. But Hannawald increased again on the darned Teufelsbakken. He smashed the competition into the ground with a hill record. In this form, the historic four-pack seemed just a formality.
And yet: how difficult the undertaking was only became clear in the year 4 BC. H. (in front of Hannawald): The Japanese Funaki also dominated the first three competitions in 1997/98. In Bischofshofen, the aesthetic flea from the Far East could no longer withstand the pressure and finished eighth without a hitch (Hannawald won ahead of Hans-Jörg “Jackson” Jäkle).
Hannawald felt this pressure at the beginning of 2002. And how. The whole of Germany was in a ski jumping frenzy, the ratings on RTL went through the roof. Hardcore fans and moms alike – they all expected something from “Hanni” that was actually impossible.
“I do my stuff,” the slim man from Hinterzarten carried like a mantra in the TV interviews. A simple, pleasant sentence to escape the (media) expectations.
Sven Hannawald flew away from everyone on the 2001/02 tour
Ski jumping: Four Hills Tournament showdown in Bischofshofen
Hannawald wanted to appear relaxed. But the pressure on him before the tour final was inhumane. He should finally clear these damned four up now! Failure is forbidden! In order to save grains, the DSV Adler regularly skipped the qualification, but in the competition they always had to play against the strongest in the knockout duel.
How Hannawald “performed” in the face of this mixed situation on the Paul-Außerleitner-Schanze – unique. Certainly: the facility with its long take-off table suited the born aviator; just three years earlier he had set a record of 137 meters in the Salzburg snow at a legendary World Championships team competition (and won gold with Dieter Thoma, Martin Schmitt and Christof Duffner).
But as if the pressure on Hannawald’s narrow shoulders wasn’t already great enough, the Slovenian Robert Kranjec and the Finnish Matti Hautamäki suddenly hit big in the first round with 134.5 and 134 meters respectively.
Shortly before 4 the 4 was through
And Hannawald? Stayed cool, hit the edge, flew, flew, flew and almost landed on the flat – 139 meters! However, because he was only able to land one shot in this range and lost points, it remained exciting.
Hautamäki wanted to play the party crasher and keep the tour myth intact, and delivered another bombshell in the final round with 131.5 meters. Hannawald was the last jumper to slide onto the beam. At “3:56 p.m. and 26 seconds,” as Tom Bartels verbally recorded to the spellbound nation, he checked his bindings again. Then he drove off.
At “15:56:55” (Bartels) it was done. Hannawald had delivered an eighth time and did his job undeterred. 131.5 meters including telemark. The thing was over.
“I gave everything for little Sven’s youthful dream, over many years, sometimes decades. In the end it cost me,” said Hannawald, who later suffered a burnout, looking back in an interview on the occasion of his 20th Grand Slam anniversary. “But what’s more important to me is that I was able to fulfill my dream, which was to win the tour.”
Hannawald’s dream continued for a while. At the Olympic Games he won silver on the normal hill and gold with the team, and he was also crowned ski flying world champion for the second time. The crash followed in the 2003/04 season.
Because of a burnout, Hannawald left the World Cup winter early – and never returned. He then tried his hand at motorsport and gave seminars. And he has remained connected to ski jumping, now as an ARD expert.
Sven Hannawald is the last German Four Hills Tournament winner to date. A wish for my 50th birthday: “I finally want to give up my backpack and get a successor.”
Source: www.sport.de
