Markus Eisenbichler and Karl Geiger do not talk about the big goal for long.
“To be honest: We haven’t won for a long time and with the ‘yes, let’s see’ we didn’t get very far either. So we can take it offensive,” said Eisenbichler about the ski jumping longing for the Four Hills Tournament victory.
Since Sven Hannawald’s triumph 20 years ago, the German flying artists have been waiting for an overall success at the ski jumping show around the turn of the year. The consistently strong violinist this winter has the best chances of finishing the series without wins. “I will attack,” announced the Oberstdorfer.
Geiger does not see the anniversary as a particular pressure before the start on Wednesday (4:30 p.m. / ARD and Eurosport) in his home country. One was often close enough and could “really do it with a big chest”. “When we have all our things together, it has to work out statistically at some point,” says the 28-year-old and adds: “If it was 20 years ago: Maybe it will bring us luck.”
Engelberg’s success underpins Geiger’s ambitions
With a win and a second place at the touring dress rehearsal in Engelberg, Geiger underpinned his ambitions and finally secured his status as a top favorite. This winter, the father of a little daughter doesn’t let anything upset him and shows top performance again and again, even in changing and difficult external conditions.
Only Ryoyu Kobayashi is similarly stable. If everything goes normally, the Japanese should be Geiger’s main competitor for the golden eagle and the 100,000 Swiss francs (around 96,000 euros) prize money. But what is normal on the tour?
In the 69 editions so far, there is almost nothing that has not yet existed. Capricious winds on the notorious Bergisel in Innsbruck, falling favorites, surprise winners that no one had on the slip before: the unpredictability makes up a large part of the tour’s appeal.
Geiger is aware of this. When asked about the strongest competitors, he names “the usual suspects” such as last year’s winner Kamil Stoch from Poland, the Austrian Stefan Kraft or Kobayashi. Geiger also says: “I also believe that one or the other may still be able to get out of the reserve somewhere.” It is often the case “that the favorites squander a little too much energy or maybe things don’t go that well, and suddenly someone comes around the corner who jumps really well and who is at the top at the start at the right time.”
Corona as a factor of uncertainty
As in the previous year, Corona is an additional factor of uncertainty for the jumpers. An infection with the virus – and the touring dream is over. Both Geiger and Kobayashi have already had these phases of isolation. Due to the current pandemic, all touring competitions will again take place without fans at the ski jumps.
Sven Hannawald, on the other hand, is there. The 47-year-old works as a TV expert for ARD and hopes to finally be able to congratulate a German successor as a touring champion at the last stop in Bischofshofen. “Other nations also want to win the tour, of course, but I hope that there will be an understanding up there that it’s our turn again,” he said in an interview with the “German Press Agency”.
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