German and Austrian teams for Wisla announced

The Ski Associations of Germany (DSV) and Austria (ÖSV) announced their teams for the World Cup opener in Wisla on Wednesday.

The team of the new German head coach Stefan Horngacher, who has to do without Severin Freund at least in the first events of the season, will consist of a total of seven athletes. "Besides the established athletes Markus Eisenbichler, Karl Geiger, Richard Freitag, and Stephan Leyhe, Moritz Baer, Constantin Schmid and Pius Paschke qualified for the opener and with that, for the first three World Cups, as well", explained Horngacher.

"After a long and intense preparation period, the anticipation for the first World Cup weekend and the first jumps on snow is very high. The key to success on the hill in Wisla is a very good take-off. Due to the sharp radius in combination with the long inrun the athletes tend to be too late. It will also be the first time for many jumpers to land on snow this season, so having the hill perfectly prepared will also be challenging", the Austrian said before his first World Cups in the new position.

The Austrian team for the first World Cup competitions of the upcoming winter was already named about four weeks ago by head coach Andreas Felder, who, back then, kept the option open to make short-term changes. Now it was confirmed that, as previously announced, Stefan Kraft, Gregor Schlierenzauer, Michael Hayboeck, Daniel Huber, Philipp Aschenwald and Jan Hoerl will be competing in Wisla.

"We have been workign assiduously and are well prepared. Now we have to live up to our potential in the competitions. If it doesn't go as wished for the one or the other athlete right from the start we have to remain cool and keep on working. The goals this season are the overall World Cup, the 4-Hills-Tournament and the Ski Flying World Championships. In addition, we want to be on the podium as often as possible. This is our goal, that's where we want to get to", said Andreas Felder.