When the first competition of the 2025/26 Four Hills Tournament is on the program in Oberstdorf on Monday, it is already clear that five-time world champion Karl Geiger has not been able to put his form crisis behind him. The DSV star failed to qualify on Sunday. Things went a little better for two-time Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger, who will be involved but probably doesn’t have a real chance of a top place. Now national coach Stefan Horngacher has commented on the crisis facing the two long-standing driving forces of German ski jumping.
“If it doesn’t go well, there’s a good chance you’ll want to force it. But you can’t force jumping and singing,” says ski jumping national coach Stefan Horngacher, who is turning his back on the DSV after the Olympic Games, in an interview with the “FAZ”.
And further: “I would say that for both of them a jumping image has become entrenched that no longer works. Breaking that down and changing it is very difficult. Both of them are experienced athletes, they are convinced of their path – understandably so, since they have to act independently. In certain situations, however, an outside perspective is helpful. And then it can also be that people talk past each other. That’s what happened to me as an athlete, so we coaches can understand that.”
However, he has a “good feeling that the two will catch up again,” said the Austrian, who, among other things, won World Cup gold twice with the team during his active career.
Video: Raimund flexes his muscles at the start of the tour
DSV duo not favored on the tour
Especially with a view to the Winter Games in Italy, he is counting on Wellinger and Geiger to “make a nice impression”. After all, you need the experienced ones to play a good role in team jumping.
From a German perspective, only Philipp Raimund and Felix Hoffmann, who have already achieved podium places, are currently playing a good role. But Horngacher doesn’t believe that the tour will be a really big coup.
“In my opinion, neither of them are favorites for the tour,” emphasizes Horngacher, but at least he sees his protégés in the wider circle of those who are aiming for victory: “They are currently among the ten best ski jumpers in the world.”