The chances of Germany’s first triumph at the Four Hills Tournament since Sven Hannawald’s Grand Slam in the winter of 2001/2002 are slim. At halftime, DSV hopeful Pius Paschke is only in sixth place.
And now we’re off to the infamous Bergisel in Innsbruck – where so many German tour dreams have been shattered and where the qualifications for Paschke and Co. weren’t exactly great either.
The last German victory on Bergisel was ten years ago: Richard Freitag triumphed in 2015.
Since 1980, only three other Germans, Manfred Deckert (1982), Jens Weißflog (1984) and Hannawald (2002), have won the third competition of the Four Hills Tournament. The Bergisel was the scene of German dramas much more frequently, as our journey into the past shows:
Ski jumping season 1998/99: Schmitt crashes
Martin Schmitt dominated the start of the 1998/99 season and traveled to Innsbruck as tour leader after victories in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Schmitt is in such great shape that quite a few experts believe that the Black Forest native will be the first jumper to achieve the Grand Slam. But there is a lot of wind on Bergisel in 1999 – which blows away dreams. Schmitt crashes in the qualification and when it counts, he doesn’t get past 13th place. On the other hand, the Finn Janne Ahonen, who always deviated in difficult conditions, remained stable and won the tour in the end without a single day’s victory.
Ski jumping season 2015/16: Freund’s nasty collision
Severin Freund won the opener in Oberstdorf in 2015 and finally came third on his “Angstschanze” in Garmisch and finally got over the slope well. Before Innsbruck, only 8.6 points separate the German from leader Peter Prevc from Slovenia.
However, Freund’s hopes were dashed during the test run on Bergisel. After a strong jump, the Bavarian fails to do the telemark, his friend hits the ground on his back and injures his hip.
The 2014 team Olympic champion grits his teeth, painfully finishes second behind Prevc in the competition, but loses more than eleven points. The result was repeated in Bischofshofen, with Freund finishing the tour in second place.
Ski jumping season 2017/18: Bad case on Fridays
In the 2017/18 season, Kamil Stoch dominated, winning in Oberstdorf and Garmisch. But: Richard Freitag is still in business, 11.8 points behind, when the ski jumping entourage arrives in Innsbruck. Hopes end on Fridays at Bergisel. In the first round he fell in the high distance range, but still qualified for the final in 22nd place. However, Friday has to miss because of pain in his hip, and he won’t go off the beam in Bischofshofen either. Stoch is now the second jumper after Hannawald to achieve the Grand Slam.
Ski jumping season 2018/19: Eisenbichler gives up
The 2018/19 tour is dominated by the Japanese high-flyer Ryoyu Kobayashi, who won the opening competitions in Germany. But: DSV Adler Markus Eisenbichler is breathing down the neck of the lightweight from the Far East and is only 4.3 points behind before the Innsbruck competition. In the first round, “Eisei” showed a good jump, but in the final he fell to 13th place and lost touch with Kobayashi. He completes the four in Bischofshofen, Eisenbichler comes second on the tour, Stephan Leyhe third. The best DSV result in recent years.
Ski jumping season 2019/20: Gone
Karl Geiger comes to Innsbruck in 2020 as second overall with every chance – and leaves the Salzburg region in third place. The reason is a “hop” in the first round that shattered Geiger’s touring dreams. In Bischofshofen, the Oberstdorfer found his usual form and came second, but had to admit defeat to Dawid Kubacki (Poland) and Marius Lindvik (Norway) in the overall ranking.
Ski jumping season 2020/21: Vergeigt II
With a win at home on the Schattenbergschanze and fifth place in Garmisch, Geiger also announced his ambitions for a tour victory in 2020/21 – only to experience bitter déjà vu in Innsbruck. Again he missed his first jump on Bergisel and was pissed off like never before after 16th place. “I have to shut down the system a bit first. At the moment I could really step in anywhere. I don’t really know myself like that. But it’s just emotional,” says “violinist Karle” on the ARD microphone.
At least things are running again in Bischofshofen. With third place on the Paul-Außerleitner-Schanze, Geiger secured silver behind Stoch, who won the tour for the third time.