The German ski jumping men remain without a medal from the large hill. The 2021 defending champion was knocked off fifth on Saturday. The host won the title.
After two World Championship titles in a row, the German ski jumping men missed out on a team medal on the large hill in Planica. The quartet of Markus Eisenbichler, Constantin Schmid, Andrea Wellinger and Karl Geiger only finished fifth on Saturday (March 4th, 2023). For the first time since 2017, the Germans remain without a team medal on the large hill.
Victory went to hosts Slovenia. The Germans were 51.2 points off gold and 11.7 points off bronze medalists Austria.
The Slovenians around individual world champion Timi Zajc scored 1178.9 points and thus won in superior fashion. Norway won the duel for silver and bronze ahead of Austria (1139.4 points).
Already a clear deficit after the first round
After the first round, the team of national coach Stefan Horngacher was clearly behind. After jumps by Eisenbichler on 137 meters, Schmid on 133 meters, Wellinger on 126.5 meters and Geiger on 136 meters, the German team was 11.9 points behind Austria in bronze. Leader Slovenia was already 22.7 points away.
National coach Horngacher gambled
So national coach Horngacher decided to play poker in the second round. Eisenbichler as the first jumper was sent off the Bakken with two hatches less. With 130.5 meters, the man from Siegsdorf missed the required distance of 90 percent of the hillsize by 0.5 points. The ten possible additional points did not exist, the Germans fell back to fifth place.
Eisenbichler: “Wasn’t discussed with me”
“That may have cost us the medal. Of course I’m fiddled now. We were close to the medals. I’m frustrated, it wasn’t agreed with me either.”, said Eisenbichler after the jump in the sports show. About his jump he said: “The flight was quite good. The flight was great. I would have thought that the flight was well over 130 meters. The flight was as I had imagined. At first I thought it would have been enough.”
Geiger at a strong 135.5 meters
Because the competition jumped strongly, the gap to bronze increased to 20.2 points after the Eisenbichler jump. After distances of 129.5 meters from Schmid and 131.0 meters from Wellinger, the deficit increased. Before Geiger’s final jump, the Germans were already 30.0 points away from bronze and 46.0 points away from gold. Geiger could not catch up with 135.5 meters.
Six German ski jumping medals
In the previous total of six medal decisions at Planica, the Germans won six medals in the individual and team competitions. Katharina Althaus won on the normal hill and was third on the large hill, Wellinger and Geiger won silver and bronze on the normal hill. There was gold in the mixed team and in the women’s team. On Saturday (04.02.2023, from 4.30 p.m.) in the men’s team competition, the Germans could win the seventh medal.
The entire German team has won twelve medals at the Nordic World Ski Championships so far. Cross-country skiers, combined athletes and ski jumpers have never been so successful at world championships.