Even in the final of the Four Hills Tournament, the battered DSV team did not jump out as twelfth place through youngster Philipp Raimund – the sobering end of a horror week. For the first time in 35 years, no German ski jumper ended up in the top ten in Bischofshofen.
When Halvor Egner Granerud celebrated his tour triumph on the shoulders of Dawid Kubacki and Anze Lanisek, Karl Geiger just wanted to get home quickly.
“Now the oven is slowly turning off. I’m glad to be going home, it’s been a long day,” said the man from Oberstdorf after the historic debacle of the German Eagles: “I certainly won’t be thinking about ski jumping this weekend.”
The violinist, who started out as a beacon of hope, added: “These were turbulent days with a lot of unpleasant things. I have to let my breath out first.”
The man from Oberstdorf, who had always been on the podium at the final of the tour for the last three years, disappointed again after his zero number in Innsbruck with 23rd place.
“Our top jumpers have far too little self-confidence”
The best German in the overall ranking was Andreas Wellinger in eleventh place – the DSV team had last jumped a worse tour in 1994/95, when Jens Weißflog was only the best German in twelfth place. Wellinger, weakened by a gastrointestinal infection, did not get past 20th place on Friday.
“It was a difficult tour for everyone involved. Our top jumpers have far too little self-confidence,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher on “ZDF”.
At least Constantin Schmid could be satisfied with 16th place. The six-time world champion Markus Eisenbichler (31st) even missed the second round for the third time in the fourth tournament. Stephan Leyhe and Pius Paschke also dropped out early.
DSV-Adler historically bad
For the DSV-Adler this was the end of a tour to forget. For the first time since 2016/17 there was not a single podium.
“That’s one of the most bitter things we’ve experienced here since I’ve been a coach,” Horngacher said before the last competition.
But there is hardly any time to catch your breath: it continues on 14./15. January in Zakopane. It’s quite possible that one or the other DSV starter in Poland will get a break. “Let’s see,” said Horngacher: “We’ll let that sink in first and then we’ll plan further.”