Normal Hill, Individual, Men

The East German Hans-Georg Aschenbach emerged as one of the World’s best ski-jumpers in the mid-1970s. His first major victory came in 1973, when he won the second World Ski flying Championships in Oberstdorf. After winning the Four Hills Tournament he won both jumping events at the 1974 World Championships in Falun. In 1975 he had a serious knee injury, but was back on the international top in the Olympic season.

In the Normal hill competition on the Toni-Seelos-Schanze in Seefeld, Aschenbach made an excellent first jump of 84.5 m, the longest in the competition. His teammate Jochen Danneberg was lying second, and the home crowd’s favorite Karl Schnabel held the third position after good jumps of 83.5 and 82.5 m respectively. The two other jumpers on the East German team, Bernd Eckstein and Henry Glaß, were lying in sixth and seventh place, and all four Austrians were among the 12 best. No doubt, the Olympic ski jumping events in 1976 seemed to be an East German-Austrian affair.

The second round brought no changes, Aschenbach and Danneberg secured a double for East Germany, again making the two best jumps of the round, and Schnabel held his bronze medal position. The three other Austrian jumpers ended in sixth and equal seventh place, all four among the eight best. Both Eckstein and Glass fell in their second jump, and would have otherwise been placed fifth and eighth.