Ranked seventh in the overall World Cup, Carina Vogt is currently the best German jumper. Right before the World Cups in Schonach and Hinterzarten Ladies-Skijumping.com Editor Stefan Diaz talked to her.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: Hello, Carina. We will have four World Cups in Germany in the next two weeks. Isn’t it time for the first German podium of this winter?
Carina Vogt: Certainly I am totally looking forward to the competitions in Schonach and in Hinterzarten, because it is always nice to jump “at home”. As for the first German podium, everything in its time. We’ll just have to jump in the competitions as we do in the trainings, then we will eventually get a good team result. I think that it is really possible to accomplish a podium place. Maybe I will be able to do it, like I did in the summer.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: Your third place in Hinterzarten this summer gives me a good cue. During the summer you displayed clearly that you are one of the best jumpers; this winter you are among the top ten of the overall World Cup. You won a Continental Cup in Baiersbronn in 2010, but subsequently you only reached “average” results for a long time. How do you explain your increasing performance?
Vogt: Yes, it’s true that I have a quite long lean period behind me. I think our work has become more and more professional from year to year, and so I’m athletically stronger now. It also helped a lot that I am employed at the German Federal Police since August 2011, so I am able to focus myself totally on my sports. This surely had a positive impact on my jumping.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: Ski jumping is certainly an individual sports, but nevertheless one travels and trains together with a team. How does it feel to be the best one of the team and how do you handle a situation, where you had a good competition, while one of your team-mates is unhappy with her result?
Vogt: All in all we have a very good atmosphere in the team and we always have a good time together in training camps. In sports it is normal that it works out well for someone one day and then for someone else the next. That’s why my team mates can be delighted about my results too. I think it does not matter at all who is the best jumper in our team – if one of us is having a bad time, she will be cheered up by the others and we’re always pushing each other ahead that way. I made that experience myself…
Ladies-Skijumping.com: If you analyze your and your team mates’ performance in the last trainings: What will Team Germany achieve in Schonach and Hinterzarten? Will you be able to benefit from the home advantage?
Vogt: If everyone jumps in the competition the same way as in the trainings, we will have a very good team result and all six will make it to the second round! I don’t know if we really have a home advantage, because we did not jump on these hills in this winter yet. But I know that everybody is highly motivated and looking forward to the World Cups.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: Do you mean it does not matter for you if the crowd is cheering and waving flags for you?
Vogt: No, of course this plays an important role! I just thought more about the hills and not about the people. It is certainly more fun to jump when spectators from Germany cheer for me and reconfirm me. This is always a great support when you jump in your own country.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: So let’s hope that a large number of fans will come to the hills. What are your goals for the remaining season?
Vogt: Yes! I hope that I will be able to keep on jumping as well as I did recently and thus to establish myself in the world’s elite. And of course I would be very happy to make it to the podium from time to time.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: Apart from the sporting side: Do you have a special wish or a goal for the year 2013?
Vogt: Nothing special, except that I hope that my family and other people close to me are well and stay healthy. But maybe the one or other wish will come to mind in the next days.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: I wish you a happy new year. Thank you for this nice and interesting interview.
Vogt: No, thank you! And I wish you a happy new year, too.