#nwsc2019

The Nordic World Ski Championships in February 2019 urge the thirty-year-old on and motivate him. "It's the big goal I'm working towards," said Freund. But he knows: "You can't expect everything to continue just like it did when you left." In one and a half year without a competition on a hill, he has kept his reason and realism.

His passion for the sport, too, still seems to be endless. Freund and his wife Caren are expecting a baby in autumn, a "Minifreund", as the father-to-be wrote. "He is in a classic phase of life where priorities shift, but he seems to love ski jumping so much that he doesn't want to resign," said German coach Werner Schuster about his long lasting showcase athlete. For the Austrian, it's "a pleasure to have him back again".

Due to the success in Pyeongchang where Wellinger won gold and silver and the DSV team was runner-up, Freund is only one of many "eagles" all of a sudden. His way back to the top is long, but it urges the ambitious economics student further on. "It isn't enough for me to just jump with the rest. I'm not the type for that," said the most successful German ski jumper of the era after Sven Hannawald and Martin schmitt.

Freund took his time until he threw himself off a hill again. On July 6th, he shared a video of a jump off a smaller hill on Instagram. Now he is lead back to the level bit by bit. "At the moment, it's just about him jumping from hills again. He must wangle the hill sizes again. Then it will be important that he gains safety again," said coach Schuster. So far, this process was without complication for Freund.