Defending champion Germany ends up in fourth place in the ski jump-Mixed. Now the first World Cup without gold threatens in 16 years.
Andreas Wellinger knocked down Katharina Schmid, also Selina Freitag and Philipp Raimund were in the rain: the famous gold series of the German ski jumper in the mixed team was suddenly torn, with fourth place the DSV quartet even went out completely empty in World Cup history. “For the moment it is stupid, you never want to go home as fourth,” said Wellinger three days after his surprising silver medal from the little ski jump.
Wellinger, Schmid, Friday and Raimund showed too many mistakes on the Großschanze von Trondheim, the competition was too strong. Already after the first round, the DSV quartet was in fourth place, in the end with 899.0 points there was a lack of four meters to the podium. Gold went to Norway (1020.4) ahead of Olympic champion Slovenia (959.3) and Austria (906.8).
A strong last jump from Wellinger at 139.0 m gave the DSV quartet hope again-but Jan Hörl countered, also sailed to 139.0 m and secured third place. “I knew that I had to ignite a mega bomb. I should have done two of them, then we would have gone to the award ceremony,” said Wellinger in the “ARD”.
This threatens the German Ski Association (DSV) the first World Cup without gold in 16 years. The mixed was the greatest chance, defending champion Germany had recently brought gold five times in a row. On the last four World Cup days, hopes are mainly due to combined Vinzenz Geiger in singles or with the team.
“If you don’t win a medal, you are always disappointed,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher: “There are a few positive things and a few negatives. The positive: Wellinger and Raimund have cracked the ski jump.”
Schmid was also sad, especially since she missed the possible eighth gold medal of her career and thus a German World Cup record at her last World Cup: “The trail became a bit rough with the rain, which of course makes it even more difficult for me.”
Raimund receives preference to Geiger
Youngster Raimund meanwhile justified his line -up with a strong second jump to 138.0 m. The 24-year-old had received preference to Karl Geiger, the fourth of the World Cup from little Bakken had not caught the right with the big hill in training. Geiger, as well as replacement woman Agnes Reisch, cheered on the DSV team as a noble fan.
And it started hopefully: after Schmid’s good first jump to 111.5 m, Germany was in second place, after Raimund (125.0) and Friday (123.0 with more attempt). When Wellinger did not go beyond 125.5 m, only position four at half -time – it was already clear that three nations fight for two medals behind Norway.
After the break, Schmid landed at 109.0 m before Raimund sparked hopes with a dream jump to 138.0 m. The team kept in the race on Friday (120.5) – in the end everyone looked at final jumpers Wellinger, whose strong sentence was not enough.