Six-time ski jumping world champion Eisenbichler joins ÖSV as wax technician

Bieler: "A real asset for our team"

Bieler highlighted Eisenbichler's expertise on the hill in particular: „Ihm kann niemand was vormachen. Er ist eine echte Bereicherung für unser Team" and added that the 35-year-old would be able to „gerade auf der Schanze wichtige Inputs geben können." Bieler also pointed to the enormous wealth of experience that Eisenbichler brings as a specialist jumper.

Eisenbichler was already hard at work during the training sessions at the Bergisel. Shirtless, he prepared the jumping skis of Johannes Lamparter and his teammates. The setting was no coincidence: Eisenbichler had won individual World Championship gold at the Bergisel in 2019 and knows the facility in Tirol extremely well from personal experience.

Eisenbichler at the Bergisel: Memories of 2019 World Championship gold

For the ÖSV Nordic Combined athletes, the signing is a gain, as the discipline of Nordic Combined combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing and therefore places particularly high demands on equipment and technique. A specialist like Eisenbichler, who helped shape both the jumping side and equipment development over many years, is considered an ideal fit in this regard.

With the personnel decision, the ÖSV is also sending a signal to the international competition. The signing of a six-time world champion in a service role is unusual in the ski jumping circuit and underscores the association's ambition to be a permanent fixture at the very top of the world in Nordic Combined.

What Eisenbichler is specifically meant to change with the Nordic Combined team

Bieler emphasized that the new impulses should have an effect above all on the hill. Those who see Eisenbichler directly alongside the athletes at upcoming competitions can also look forward to a few stories from the great career of the man from Bavaria.

Eisenbichler himself appeared motivated as he started at the ÖSV and stressed that he was looking forward to his new tasks. The coming months will show how the unusual step of a world champion into the everyday service team work of the Nordic Combined squad plays out – and whether his input on the hill can make the decisive difference.