Eva Pinkelnig named to Austrian team for Rasnov

Good news from the Austrian ski jumping team: 32-year-old Eva Pinkelnig, who suffered a splenic rupture in a crash in training last December, will compete in the World Cup in Rasnov (ROU).

Women's individual competitions will be held on Rasnov on Thursday and Friday, a men's individual competition will take place on Friday, followed by a mixed team event on Saturday. While the Austrian men's top team with Stefan Kraft, Daniel Huber, Michael Hayboeck, Philipp Aschenwald, and Jan Hörl will not travel to Rasnov and train for the upcoming World Championships in Oberstdorf (GER) instead, Austrian women's head coach Harald Rodlauer named his best athletes to the team for Rasnov.

Among them is Eva Pinkelnig, who used the past weeks to recover from her crash in training. Considering the progress she made recently, the athlete and the coaches decided that she will work on a possible comeback in the World Cup, on time for the Nordic World Championships (February 23 - March 7).

Eva Pinkelnig: "I ask everyone to understand that I will not talk about how the past weeks and months have been for me and about the decision regarding my future in sports. The World Championships are right around the corner and my focus is on this challenge and the big goal ahead of me. After the season I will look back on what happened, but now I'm only looking ahead. I'm extremely happy and motivated to return to the World Cup."

Head coach Harald Rodlauer: "Due to the progress over the past weeks, we were recently thinking about naming Eva to the team. She underwent medical checks and is allowed to compete in Rasnov. This is a positive development. Eva is important for the team and it's good to have her back again. We are traveling to Romania with a strong team and are looking forward to the competitions."

In the men's competitions in Rasnov, Austria will be represented by Manuel Fettner, Ulrich Wohlgenannt, and the athletes who were recently successful in the Junior World Championships in Lahti, like the new two-time World Champion Niklas Bachlinger.

Austrian women's team for Rasnov: Lisa Eder, Chiara Hoelzl, Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, Marita Kramer, Eva Pinkelnig, Sophie Sorschag
Austrian men's team for Rasnov: Niklas Bachlinger, Manuel Fettner, David Haagen, Elias Medwed, Daniel Tschofenig, Ulrich Wohlgenannt, Marco Woergoetter