Pius Paschke remains the German high-flyer of the ski jumping winter. The 34-year-old only had to admit defeat in third place in Wisla, Poland, to the premiere winner Daniel Tschofenig (Austria) and the Swiss Gregor Deschwanden.
With his fourth podium finish in the fifth competition, the Upper Bavarian maintained his lead in the overall World Cup.
Late starter Paschke once again showed two sparkling clean jumps of 127.0 m each (273.9 points), only one and a half meters separated him from the day’s winner Tschofenig. The 22-year-old from Carinthia jumped to the top for the first time after six podium places and was just ahead of Deschwanden, who was still without a win, with 276.8 points (132.0 + 135.5 m) (275.4).
Things went mixed for the other DSV eagles on the Malinka ski jump. As the second best German, Karl Geiger confirmed his upward trend with eighth place. The two-time Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger, most recently the demolition winner in Kuusamo, had to be content with 22nd place – at the beginning of 2024 he celebrated his first World Cup victory in Wisla as an 18-year-old. Between Geiger and Wellinger were Philipp Raimund in 14th and Stephan Leyhe in 18th.
Another setback was suffered by Markus Eisenbichler, who, after finishing 43rd in the second competition in Kuusamo, missed the final again in 40th place. Another individual competition is scheduled for Sunday (3:15 p.m./ARD and Eurosport).