The German ski jumpers are high flyers early on! At the first World Cup competition this season, four DSV Adler flew into the top seven.
The German ski jumpers are high flyers early on! At the first World Cup jumping This season four DSV Adler flew into the top seven. At half time it looked like an even better result.
Toboggan conditions in ski jumping! At the World Cup opener in Ruka, Finland, the DSV jumpers caused a lot of surprise and a dream result on Saturday (November 25th, 2023). Behind opening winner Stefan Kraft from Austria, Pius Paschke and Stephan Leyhe surprisingly flew onto the winner’s podium.
Andreas Wellinger was in second place at halftime, but had to settle for fourth place in the end. Raimund Philipp also lost some ground and came seventh. That’s when Karl Geiger, of all people, dropped something. The Oberstdorfer came “only” eleventh with 134 and 138 meters. “It was a pretty decent start, but with room for improvement”said Geiger in the first.
Horngacher is also surprised
Even national coach Stefan Horngacher was surprised by his boys. “If there was a secret, we wouldn’t reveal it,” he said in the “Sportschau” and added: “We have turned a lot of little screws.” And apparently in the right direction. And throughout the entire team. While in the past there were often only one or two outliers, this time almost the entire team was convincing.
The biggest surprise from a German perspective was the performance of World Cup newcomer Hamann – at least in the first round. The 26-year-old, who comes from the lowlands in the Leipzig district, was in third place with a set of 142 meters. In the final he touched down at 129 meters and fell behind Geiger to twelfth place.
First round: Five Germans in the top 8
After the first round, Geiger was in 13th place – making him the only German outside the top ten. Wellinger (142 m), Hamann (139.5 m), Paschke (142 m) and Raimund (141 m) took second to fifth place behind Kraft. Leyhe was also promising in eighth place (137 m), difficult conditions prevented an even better placement on one of the largest ski jumps in the world. Everything fell into place in the second round – and Leyhe was able to celebrate being on the winner’s podium.
Disappointment for Polish jumpers
The Poles, who had been so strong as a team in the past, had a disappointing start. In Ruka only Dawid Kubacki reached the final, but as 21st he was unable to take part in the fight for the podium places. The preparation for the first important competition of the year was disrupted by a wave of illness. Kamil Stoch and Co. can still be expected.
But the Germans gave the warning signal and Markus Eisenbichler, a jumper who can be trusted a lot, wasn’t even there.