Tears of disappointment flow on Friday, followed by a silver medal on Saturday. At his fourth attempt, ski acrobat Pirmin Werner is at least partially reconciled with the Olympic Games.
21.02.2026, 14:52
SDA
No, the disappointment of the previous day has not completely disappeared. "But the silver medal does help a little," says Pirmin Werner. Thanks to the team jumping, the athlete from the Zürcher Weinland, who is said to spread good vibes everywhere, is taking home an Olympic medal after all.
It is a medal that was not necessarily expected during the competition. In qualifying, the team benefited from mistakes by the competition. And in the final round, Werner and Roth had to perform two top jumps after teammate Kozomara fell. Both dared to perform five screws - and both stood their jumps.
Caught between two emotional worlds
For Werner, silver is a small consolation for the bitter disappointment of Friday. For a long time, it had looked like it could be his day in the singles. He finished first in the qualification and second in the first two finals. In the medal decision, he took full risk and was the only one of the top 6 jumpers to perform the "Hurricane". He had performed the jump with the three screws in the middle section in training, but not in the competition.
Werner crashed on landing and lost his skis. "Everything is gone," was going through his mind as he slid down the steep slope. "I prepared myself intensively for this moment, and then there's just a huge void," he said later in the finish area. He was caught between two emotional worlds: On the one hand, the joy of his good friend Noé Roth's silver jump, and on the other, the disappointment that it hadn't been enough for himself.
He watched the medal ceremony from a distance of around 30 meters. Together with his coaches, he clapped and cheered for Roth. Shortly afterwards, with the ceremony still underway, Werner knelt down and cried. The frustration that he had suppressed as best he could for a long time had to come out. Understandable: four years ago in Beijing he had already narrowly missed out on a medal with two 4th places.
The pressure of the big stage
The Olympic Games are particularly important for athletes in lesser-known sports. They can present themselves to a wide audience and attract important sponsors. Werner was not the only one to experience the pressure that builds up at these Winter Games.
He has now partially reconciled himself to the Winter Games. Team success can have a healing effect in the long term, but Werner does not hide the fact that the individual is more important to him. He wants to attack again in four years' time - and strive for complete reconciliation.
