As a single team, the German team secured participation in the World Cup in Lake Placid. But that wasn’t too difficult given the small number of participants in the qualification on Friday (February 9, 2024).
Once again the best German jumper was Andreas Wellinger, who encountered some of the worst conditions and still achieved fifth place in the qualification. Although his 120 meters were six meters shorter than that of qualifying winner Lovro Kos from Slovenia, Wellinger was still only 5.7 points behind him thanks to the bonus points. In addition to Wellinger, Philipp Raimund also ended up in the top ten.
“Today it was ok in terms of jumping, but not yet the fine blade. Maybe the jet lag is still there for a bit, I need to prepare myself a little better for tomorrow” said Wellinger, who was at the ” last yearcool“Schanze won, on the sports show microphone. It’s about adjusting the finer details.
Only one jumper is eliminated
The qualification had only minor sporting value, it was more of an additional training jump. Since only 51 jumpers took part, only one missed qualifying for Saturday’s competition. And since the American Decker Dean botched his attempt at the home game, it quickly became clear that he would be the unlucky one.
In total, the German team reached Lake Placid with six jumpers. Given the small number of eliminations and Dean’s jump, everyone qualified without any problems. Since the hill is one of the smaller large hills in the World Cup circuit, the spread was very small. Depending on the conditions, one meter more or less could mean a few places forward or backwards.
Geiger’s curve points upwards
With his 125 meters, Raimund took ninth place. “I can be happy with the jump“, he explained afterwards. Stephan Leyhe came 15th on 123.5 meters.
Karl Geiger landed two places behind. The two-time season winner still has a few problems with the hill, but he was able to show his best jump on the 1980 Olympic hill in the qualification with 119.5 meters. “You have to focus on the small steps and I took them today. Every jump has gotten better. This should continue tomorrow“, says Geiger, who deals with “Time and peace“Wants to work forward again.
Pius Paschke’s 121 meters were enough for 19th place. Felix Hoffmann got along well with the new system straight away: “The first jump was the coolest – loose and fluid. That was fun straight away. Now in the qualification, something more was wanted. But the jump is cool, it’s fun.“He reached 119 meters, initially took the lead and was in 34th place in the final tally.