Simi flies and flies and flies: Ammann starts his 27th season with question marks

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A career as a top athlete lasts about 15 years, depending on the sport and the bad luck with injuries. As your 40th birthday approaches, thoughts of retirement usually begin to increase. This does not apply to ski jumping icon Simon Ammann. The two-time Olympic champion will compete in his 27th season this winter. At 42 years old, he is the oldest show jumping horse at the World Championships.

If you ask Simon Amman why he hasn’t had enough of top sport, there is an unusually long silence. Is it about proving yourself again? Is it about nostalgia or just the joy of flying? The answer remains cryptic: continuing the ‘top sports project’, as Ammann calls it, is not an easy decision, but it is meaningful.

New momentum with a new coach

Although the ski jumping legend has competed in the Weltup every winter for the past 27 years, Ammann’s focus has recently shifted to his studies. He studies business administration at HSG. This puts a lot of pressure on the father of the family. He cannot say exactly when he will receive his bachelor’s degree. “I try to organize my schedule so that everything fits together somehow. But it is a constant balancing act.” In any case, Ammann has a short test-free phase before the World Cup in Engelberg OW on December 16.

From a sporting perspective it is difficult to estimate what he will achieve at home at this World Cup. He no longer sets concrete goals. He would prefer to work on his flying technique with the new head coach, the Norwegian Rune Velta (34). Velta, who is eight years younger than Ammann, focuses less on the jump and is much more “flight-oriented,” Ammann explains. Which he could personally benefit from. Although the sporting ambitions of the four-time Olympic champion are low, he still wants to be involved in the World Cup. “I saw last season that I could still reach the top of the world, even though I was far behind.”

Concerns about the hotel project

In addition to his full-time job as a top athlete and his part-time job as a student, Simon Ammann also has a handful of projects running in parallel. The ski jumper runs his own sports management company. He is on the board of directors of Toggenburger Bergbahnen. And if that wasn’t enough, he is also pursuing his own hotel project in Alt St. Johann SG. A few years ago he bought the venerable Hotel Hirschen, which was in need of renovation, at auction. The dream of owning his own hotel has now apparently fallen to pieces: “Unfortunately that’s off the table,” he says, adding vaguely: “Maybe there will be a café.” Shortly afterwards, Ammann says goodbye. Not because training calls. But because there is a meeting with the St. Gallen Monument Preservation Office. The normal appointment madness in Simon Ammann’s daily life.

Source : Blick