Olympic champion scolds coaches at a loss
On the ground of the facts
01/27/2025 – 07:25 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
From a German perspective, the four -hill tour was a disappointment. The subsequent World Cups did not bring a trend reversal. The mood is tense.
It was around a month since the German ski jumpers were good at the German ski jumpers. Pius Paschke led the World Cup, Andreas Wellinger followed sixth, Karl Geiger at nine. “We are ready,” announced Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger confidently before the start of the four -hill tour.
Little is left of this self -confidence four weeks later. The four-hill tour became Austria festival, while not a single podium went to Germany. Ex-ski jumper Sven Hannawald struggled with the lack of looseness, national coach Stefan Horngacher with the wrong mentality, Andreas Wellinger with the lack of pressure from the offspring.
But even without the great headlight of the four-hill tour, the DSV eagles remain behind the expectations. In Zakopane (Poland) the German Quartet around Pius Paschke, Karl Geiger, Andreas Wellinger and Philipp Raimung did not make a podium in the team competition. Only fourth place, a hearty disappointment. And in the individual competition it went even more bitter. Paschke missed the second round as 32nd, violinist was the only German in the top ten.
Zakopane remained no dropout. The next slump followed during ski flying in Oberstdorf last weekend. While the Slovenes, Norwegians and Austrians delivered real flight shows, the DSV eagles jumped after.
Paschke was on Saturday, 18th, on Sunday 21st “Unfortunately that was not what I hoped for. A bit is missing. The width was missing. National coach Stefan Horngacher stated: “Pius didn’t get going here, there is a lot to do.”
Andreas Wellinger also disappointed. With 14 and 19, he was just as dissatisfied as with the lack of wind support. “That was Saubitter, it was a dead fly,” the 29-year-old struggled.
Only Karl Geiger came close to his level and, in tenth place on Saturday, had a eleventh place on Sunday. Nevertheless, the performance of the Oberstdorfer did not deceive the sobering team results. “We cannot be satisfied with the result, that was definitely not enough,” emphasized national coach Horngacher.
The 55-year-old announced: “We have to continue working. There is a lot to do, but we stay tuned.” Only: There is no longer a lot of opportunity to do so before the World Cup (February 26 to March 9). In the days before the home World Cup this weekend in Willingen, the boss can still make with his eagles, after which it goes on the exertion “world tour” to Lake Placid (USA) and Sapporo (Japan). So Paschke and Co. will fly a lot – but they cannot get the flight feeling back.