Willingen (dpa) – The German ski jumpers had to put up with a mood dampener in windy and rainy Willingen shortly before the Winter Olympics. The medal hopefuls Karl Geiger and Markus Eisenbichler were unlucky with the difficult and changing conditions.
The successful German jumpers in the competition, which was stopped after one round, had nothing to do with the fight for the podium places.
Geiger finished 20th, losing the overall World Cup leader’s yellow jersey to Japanese winner Ryoyu Kobayashi. Eisenbichler took 30th place. Severin Freund was the best German in fourth place. The 33-year-old managed a dream flight of 140 meters.
“It was the conditions, you have to say that,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher about Geiger’s jump and result on ZDF. “Pity.” The Austrian certified his best athlete a “good jump” despite the result.
Geiger had already landed after 120.5 meters. The 28-year-old from Oberstdorf celebrated two World Cup victories last weekend in Titisee-Neustadt. His buddy Eisenbichler had finished third twice in the Black Forest and now only jumped 118.5 meters on the Großer Mühlenkopfschanze.
Local hero Leyhe in sixth place
With a view to the form two days before the flight to the ring spectacle in Beijing, the validity of the competition is very manageable due to the unequal conditions for the jumpers. An example of how exceptional the competition was is Freund: The Bavarian failed to qualify for China and has now almost made it onto the podium. Olympic participant Pius Paschke, who had had problems recently, only came in 32nd place. As the second best German, local hero Stephan Leyhe took sixth place.
Before the men’s competition, Katharina Althaus had again confirmed her status as a medal candidate for Beijing. The 25-year-old from Oberstdorf took second place behind Austrian Marita Kramer with a jump of 126.5 meters. At the individual premiere of the women jumpers on the huge ski jump, a violent fall by Selina Freitag caused a moment of shock. After landing, the 20-year-old hit her head and upper body hard on the slope. The athlete who was nominated for the Olympics was able to leave the outlet independently.
“Selina’s doing quite well so far,” said women’s national coach Maximilian Mechler and added: “The shock is certainly still in the neck.” Friday has “a few bruises. It will still hurt a little.” Due to strong winds, this competition was also canceled after just one round.