He can be beaten: After four victories, Stefan Kraft has not won a World Cup competition for the first time this season. Karl Geiger triumphed on Saturday (December 9th, 2023) in Klingenthal, Andreas Wellinger and Pius Paschke rounded off another strong DSV result.
The ski jumping World Cup season was four competitions old before we went to the ski jump in Klingenthal, and Stefan Kraft couldn’t be defeated for just as long. The Austrian had won all the competitions and now the Germans, who had already made it onto the podium five times, wanted to end this series. And in front of the home crowd, there were many signs in the first half that this venture could work.
Geiger succeeds in an “insane” jump
For a long time it remained quiet in the fog of Klingenthal, but then Ryoyu Kobayashi made the first exclamation mark of the day. With a jump of 140.5 meters, the Japanese took the lead – but after him came the high-flyer of the first round.
Karl Geiger still clearly distanced Kobayashi despite his exceptional jump, only landing after 144 meters and getting 4.4 points more. “Crazy, that was the first jump I really hit. Incredibly cool, it was a lot of fun in front of the backdrop. That was amazing“said Geiger.
Paschke narrowly missed the hill record
The DSV jumper was leading at half time and, after two fourth places recently in Lillehammer, was not only hoping for his first podium finish of the season, but even for his first victory. But it wasn’t just Geiger who was convincing. Pius Paschke also confirmed his great form and went into the second round in third place with the longest jump (145.5 meters), only 0.2 points less than Kobayashi. With his distance, Paschke also missed the official hill record by just one meter.
Andreas Wellinger also impressed and was sixth after 139 meters. But one shouldn’t write off series winner Kraft, who flew 140 meters with less start-up and was only 5.2 points behind Geiger in fourth place.
Power gets to it, but not past it
And after his double victories in Ruka and Lillehammer, the Austrian couldn’t fight back this time. Kraft also showed an outstanding jump of 144.5 meters in the second round and put pressure on the leading trio. However, it wasn’t enough to win. Although he overtook Paschke and Kobayashi, he was no longer able to knock Geiger off his throne. In even better conditions, the German flew 146 meters and saved his lead to the finish. For Geiger it was the 14th World Cup success of his career.
“I always said we would try to win. Karl jumped exceptionally well today, he was super focused. He showed great jumps, especially in the second round. It was a difficult competition because you had to jump extremely long and the wind conditions were always changing slightly. An incredible performance from Karl – but also from Andy Wellinger, Pius Paschke and Stephan Leyhe. Great team, great atmosphere and a great success today“, said national coach Stefan Horngacher in the Sportschau interview.
After his two second places in Lillehammer and third place in the second competition in Ruka, Wellinger was not able to get on the podium again in Klingenthal, but showed another strong performance. In the second round, the 28-year-old was a bit unlucky with the conditions, but still showed a top jump. Wellinger only landed at 144.5 meters and moved up to fourth place. Paschke failed again to defeat Kraft, but thanks to his 143 meters he completed the strong DSV result with three jumpers in the top 5.
Leyhe and Hamann not so strong, Raimund not there
Despite Horngacher’s praise, Leyhe, like Martin Hamann, could not quite build on their previous achievements. Leyhe (third and fifth in Ruka) only managed 134 meters in the first round and was 13th at halftime. With his second jump over 132 meters he fell back to 14th place – his worst result of the season. Hamann was just able to qualify for the second round in 29th place with 124.5 meters and remained in this position with 129.5 meters on his second attempt.
A previously quite successful DSV athlete was unable to jump in Klingenthal. Philipp Raimund had to take a break due to an infection after making it into the top 20 in each of the first four competitions. At the start in Ruka, the 23-year-old was already seventh. Raimund will also be missing from the second Klingenthal jumping competition on Sunday (December 10, 2023).