The Wartenberg ski jumper Christian Heim cleared all the trophies and ended his career at the age of 21.
Today he is a trainer.
Wartenberg / Prien - Christian Heim is 19 and under the stress of competition.
He just jumped in the Alpine Cup in Seefeld, now it's off to the Continental Cup in Switzerland.
In between, he takes the time and quickly brings several pairs of discarded jump skis and suits to the Auerbach ski club.
The local offspring are happy and they have done something for their home club.
Where it all began.
This story is from 2012.
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As a youngster, Heim in Auerbach was enthusiastic.
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Christian Heim is now 28, has not jumped himself for a long time, but passes on his knowledge as a trainer. And that is multifaceted in every respect. Participation in the Junior World Cup, several victories in the German Cup, German junior runner-up behind Stephan Leye, German team runner-up - the Wartenberger won prizes and trophies early on. He made his international debut at the age of 15 and traveled all over the world.
But he has also experienced the dark side of competitive sport.
He has celebrated triumphs, but also suffered defeats.
He passed on the lessons he has learned in recent years as part of the coaching staff of the DSV national team.
No four hill tournament, no world championship without the still young Wartenberger.
We spoke to the federal police officer who lives with his girlfriend in Prien am Chiemsee and is now the ski jumping trainer of the sports relay at the sports school in Bad Endorf.
At the age of six he built small jumps on the Auerbacher Hügel
Erdinger Anzeiger: If there were time travel: What advice would the Heim coach give the Heim talent?
Christian Heim: Give yourself more time!
I was 21 when I stopped jumping.
At 21?
At that time I was dissatisfied with my performance, with my body, with my weight.
Today I also know that you have to think long-term.
But as a young guy you are impatient and think: Martin Schmitt was already in the World Cup at 21, you have already missed that.
Today I know: It takes a lot of work to jump in the World Cup.
You can currently see with Pius Paschke that it can still work later.
Let's talk about the early years.
It's not for nothing that you are one of our top 100 athletes.
How did you get into ski jumping?
Somehow I've always been there.
My father (Michael Heim,
the editor
) was a Nordic combined skier like the Auerbach legends Rudi Heilmaier and Hans Steinbauer.
I was around six years old when we started building small jumps on the Auerbacher Hügel.
Then we rushed over it - it was more like a mixture of skiing and jumping.
The golden 2000s of SC Auerbach
But the ski jumping fever grabbed her right away.
Rather not.
That came later on the larger hills.
I was twelve when we drove to Rastbüchl in the Bavarian Forest.
There is a 35 and a 75 meter hill.
I didn't dare to go in the morning.
At lunch I really had my pants full.
But then I made my first real jumps there.
And it went pretty well straight away.
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Heim in Auerbach was enthusiastic as a Junspund.
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You could say so.
The early 2000s were a golden time for SC Auerbach.
Marc Ganserer, Gerrit Herrmann, me and a few others - we were really good back then.
We brought home trophies every weekend.
The mountain people didn't understand how we people from the lowlands could be so successful.
You were appointed to the Bayern team at the age of twelve.
Yes and, funnily enough, the coaches I had at the time became my colleagues at DSV later.
And then at 14 I went to the sports high school in Berchtesgaden.
But the center of my life remained Wartenberg.
I had my clique at home.
That's why I always went home on weekends.
Life at the sports high school: there was time for rubbish
How can you imagine the day in a sports high school?
Everything very timed.
You have lessons from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
After your lunch break, the trainer will pick you up for strength or jump training.
And after dinner there was still an hour and a half to study.
It was over at about half past eight.
Sounds exhausting.
Don't worry, there was already time to do some more junk.
Once, when it was snowing a lot, we shoveled up the entrance to prevent our coaches from coming in.
We even worked with watering cans to make it really freeze solid.
That should have caused trouble.
There was a real shit, but it wasn't that bad either.
Basically the mood was relaxed.
We had real grenades with us: Markus Eisenbichler, Beppi Ferstl or Vicky Rebensburg, they were all with us.
However, I'm down after secondary school.
I was attracted by the offer of the federal police with training and skiing.
146 meters through the air
What would you yourself consider to be your sporting highlights?
The nomination for the Junior World Championships in Liberec.
Then my successes in the Germany Cup and with the Bayern team.
The weekend at Iron Mountain was great too.
It was my first competition outside of Europe, I came third in the Continental Cup.
I also like to think of Sapporo when I finished eighth.
Your colleague Fabian Seidl raves about the ski jump in this Japanese coastal town.
Where do you like it best?
Japan is exciting, but associated with jet lag, extremely exhausting.
I really like it in Planica, trips to Scandinavia are always an experience.
The landscape in Finland, for example, is a dream.
But to be honest: I still like the ski jump in the small Rastbüchl best.
It's so wonderfully quiet there.
I also think Predazzo is great, but that's also because it's the south side of the Alps.
I also like the South Tyrolean way of life, but the 120 meter hill there is really very cool.
The place where you jump the furthest will probably also remain unforgettable.
In Bischofshofen I jumped 146 meters.
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The man from Wartenberg also enjoys ski tours.
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The jump into the B-team
Which brings us to the thrill of jumping.
Explain the fascination to us!
Open the car window at 80 km / h and hold your hand against the wind.
Then a slight bend in your hand and you feel the updraft.
If I can do that to my body and my skis.
When I stand on a cushion of air due to buoyancy and speed - that's exactly it.
We laypeople are amazed that ski jumpers are doing great for one season and not at all for a year after that.
Is there just a lack of looseness?
Yes, but the looseness doesn't come just like that.
You have to work it out through the appropriate preparation in summer, through the right material setup and the corresponding physical requirements.
It went well for you for a long time.
You were appointed to the B squad.
And from then on it went downhill.
It's crazy.
The German Ski Association got me into the B-team because I earned it with my achievements.
Now I had optimal framework conditions, the know-how of the best coaches - it could have been really good.
Competitive sport: "Nobody would say that this is healthy"
And then?
Nothing worked anymore.
I wanted to do it especially well.
I tried to change the body weight.
But then the strength training stopped working and I couldn't get my knee problems under control.
The tiresome subject of body weight.
I don't want to complain about that.
I had just decided on this sport, and that requires a certain physique: in basketball there are no small players or in volleyball players with little jumping ability.
But when it comes to bulimia ...
That shouldn't happen, of course, and the last known case in ski jumping was, as far as I know, when Sven Hannawald was still jumping.
But again: We do competitive sport here, nobody would say that it is healthy.
But of course: if someone gets stuck, then we as coaches have to intervene.
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From the DSV to the Federal Police
Did someone help you back then?
No, I already broke because of my doubts, followed by a slight depression.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a person I could trust who would motivate me or perhaps change the training.
Things you can do better as a coach.
Today we have the whole package in mind: the physical, but also the diet and the psyche.
But the work in a coaching staff like the DSV is much more extensive.
My main tasks as co-trainer were not only looking after the athletes, but also planning and organizing trips and training camps.
I filmed every flight at the ski jump and edited the videos for analysis.
But I haven't been with the DSV since this year.
Rather?
Trainer at the Federal Police, and thus also from Markus Eisenbichler and Martin Hahmann.
That is a lot of fun.
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Heim is currently in Planica and trains the athletes of the Federal Police.
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A job for the ages?
I don't know how long I'll be doing this.
Maybe I'll go down the police route, do high-level work and become a commissioner.
I could imagine that too.
With a vita like yours with many quick successes and the very early end of your career, the question arises: Was it worth the drag?
I would definitely do it all over again.
I have learned qualities that you only have so blatantly as a professional athlete and that make the difference to other people: punctuality, discipline.
A competitive athlete plans a short vacation very differently.
We approach something in a much more determined and structured manner.
And when we have a long mountain of work ahead of us, we don't despair of it, but just slowly wear it off.
In my career I would certainly do a lot differently today, but I have never regretted the step to competitive sport.
Dieter Priglmeir
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