Four Hills Tournament
Halvor Egner Granerud took the lead in the fight for the golden eagle. At the 71st Four Hills Tournament on Thursday (December 29, 2022) in Oberstdorf, the Norwegian was celebrated as the first winner.
On the Schattenbergschanze, the 26-year-old flew to success in front of 25,000 euphoric spectators with personal bests of 142.5 and 139 meters. Second place went to Poland’s Piotr Zyla, while Dawid Kubacki (also from Poland), who was the leader in the overall World Cup, finished third. Granerud did well in the overall ranking with 312.4 points. Zyla follows with minus 13.4 points, Kubacki is 17.5 points behind.
Duel Wellinger vs. Geiger brings atmosphere to the boil
The strong performances by Andreas Wellinger and Karl Geiger also brought the mood to a boil. With 135 meters, Welllinger was able to set an exclamation mark with the first jump. Local hero Geiger even pitched 136.5 meters, but had 2.5 points less. From fourth and fifth place, it was even possible for both of them to make the leap to the front.
The internal duel of the German ski eagles added excitement to the final. Geiger had the better flight, added 134 meters and overtook Wellinger (132m). However, the man from Oberstdorf narrowly missed the podium in fourth place. In the overall standings, Geiger is 18.8 points behind Granerud, Wellinger is sixth and 27.2 points behind.
National coach Stefan Horngacher was very satisfied with the performance of his athletes. “Real respect for Karl and Andi Wellinger for what they delivered under these pressure conditions“, praised the 53-year-old.
Raimund confidently jumps into the top 15
With Philipp Raimund, the DSV had a “diamond in the rough”, as not only Horngacher calls him, at the start. The 22-year-old took 14th place on his tour debut, confidently and ripped off. “I’m new and bring a bit of a breath of fresh air“, Raimund said confidently into the microphone. He was satisfied with his jumps and “also a bit of pride” on himself. Briskly he announced: “There is always a better way“.
Team-mate Stephan Leyhe also found his way quite well at the start, but slipped down three places to 20th place.
Schmid disappointed with the result
Constantin Schmid was only able to show 111.5 meters in knockout mode, but he won his duel and was therefore allowed to jump over the ski jump a second time. The 23-year-old managed to increase to 122 meters. However, the man from Oberaudorf was not satisfied. “Wasn’t my plan. Check it off and do it better next time,” said the visibly disappointed Schmid in the ZDF interview.
Eisenbichler loses and indicates exit from the tour
Markus Eisenbichler, who had to accept a low point of the season, wasn’t quite as lucky. The Siegsdorfer lost his duel with Turkey’s Fatih Arda İpcioğlu. Even over the lucky loser his 115 meters did not reach the final round. “It’s tough. Then you really think things are going uphill“, the Siegsdorfer analyzed emotionally as usual. “Of course I am very disappointed“Eisenbichler even hinted at a possible exit from the tour.”The constitution is wrong at the back and at the front. I have to talk to the coaches if it still makes sense to continue torturing myself“.
Pius Paschke also made a mistake and landed at a disappointing 110 meters after a jump error. He was also prematurely eliminated from the competition.