How a competitor crashed the interview with Elena Runggaldier

By Christian Staffler, Seefeld in Tyrol

At the age of 28, Elena Runggaldier will compete in her very first World Championship team competition on Tuesday. But that has less to do with her age than with the fact that there has simply been no women's team jumping at the Nordic World Championships. Now the time has finally come and the Val Gardena resident took her time after Monday's training.

Because the OK team behind the mixed zone at the jump tried diligently to cover the mud with excavators and a large pile of sand - and made a hell of a racket in the process - we conducted the interview in front of the jumpers' cabins. Actually an area where journalists have no business, but the security staff weren't paying attention for a moment. And so I spoke to the woman from Val Gardena about her first World Cup appearance in Seefeld – until an Austrian “crashed” the conversation.

Two training sessions, one at 13 p.m. and one at 16 p.m., were scheduled in Seefeld on Monday. The South Tyroleans Runggaldier and Lara Malsiner completed the first two jumps. The two women from Val Gardena were there in the second training session. Runggaldier was quite happy with her performance: “The first jump was good, the second a little less so. But that’s fine.”

8th place as a big goal It also fits for the Italian team, because a team could be nominated for the team competition, which starts at 16.15:16 p.m. on the Toni-Seelos-Schanze in Seefeld. The “Azzurre” will be there when a little piece of sports history is written. This was not a given, as there was no Italian contingent on the men's side at Bergisel. Actually an indictment, but Italy is not a major ski jumping nation. By the way, neither did Kazakhstan or the USA, but they were there. Be that as it may, the “Azzurre” are there for the women: alongside Runggaldier, Lara Malsiner, Veronica Gianmoena and the XNUMX-year-old debutante Giada Tomaselli will be competing in the team event. “Either you’re good everywhere, or you’re bad everywhere!” Elena Runggaldier over the Toni Seelos ski jump in Seefeld And the goals? “Eighth place would be a great result for us. Achieving more will be difficult, the other teams are strong,” says Runggaldier. The 8-meter ski jump in Seefeld is definitely suitable for her. “Big jumps suit me better,” she says, adding: “But you’re either good everywhere or bad everywhere.” Iraschko-Stolz as an “interview crasher” And so the conversation continued until Daniela Iraschko-Stolz brought it to an abrupt end. The local hero probably hadn't trained enough yet, so she quickly jumped and sailed through the camera image on my iPhone, which I was already having more trouble with than I would have liked. Everyone laughed briefly and Runggaldier explained to me: “You're a bit of a crazy person.” Of course, no one was angry with the Austrian and after a short cut on the cell phone, the conversation with Runggaldier continued.

But not for long, because the sun was already setting, was quite low and glared into the camera lens. Besides, it was getting cold. Elena Runggaldier also had to move on. As I said goodbye, I wished her and her colleagues good luck in the team competition. As she walked away she called out to me: “Fingers crossed tomorrow!” I’ll do that, I promise.

___________ In this section they report SportNews -Editors talk about their experiences at the Nordic World Ski Championships 2019 in Seefeld. Mostly they are interviews and videos, sometimes from scenes outside of major sporting events.

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How a competitor crashed the interview with Elena Runggaldier

On Tuesday the women's team jumping is on the program at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld. SportNews spoke to Elena Runggaldier in advance. But only until an Austrian Olympic medalist “crashed” the conversation.

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