Philipp Raimund and Felix Hoffmann confirmed their top form on the large ski jump in Falun, but clearly missed out on another podium finish.
With Slovenian Anze Lanisek’s first win of the season, the DSV Eagles landed in eleventh and twelfth place and remained without a top ten result for the first time in the Olympic winter. Andreas Wellinger was still completely out of sorts in 40th place.
“It just didn’t work, it’s just not enough at that level,” said two-time Olympic champion Wellinger on ARD. Karl Geiger (41st), who, like Wellinger, came away empty-handed for the third time in the fourth competition of the season, was similarly perplexed. At least Pius Paschke showed rising form in Sweden in 14th place.
Lanisek intercepted Stefan Kraft with flights of 129.0 and 128.5 m. The Austrian, who had triumphed on the small jump the day before, was still in the lead after the first round, but was passed through to ninth place. Lanisek won ahead of the Austrian Stephan Embacher and world champion Domen Prevc (Slovenia), a total of five ÖSV Adler landed in the first nine places.
The qualification continues on Friday in Kuusamo, Finland. Last winter, Paschke and Wellinger each celebrated a victory in the Arctic Circle, and Karl Geiger also landed on the podium there.