Suddenly a World Cup favorite: Ski jumping Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger took second place in Trondheim in the qualification for the competition on the normal hill and gave the last-torn German team brilliant prospects for the competition on Sunday (5:15 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport).
On Saturday evening, the 29-year-old flew to 105.5 m and only had to give up with 138.2 points to the Norwegian Johann Andre Forfang, who came to 106.5 m (140.8 points). World Cup leader Daniel Tschofenig (Austria) finished third (134.2).
Wellinger is a great lover of the little hill: in 2018 he won Olympic gold in Pyeongchang, 2017 and 2023 was the Bavarian world champion.
After very weak training, Karl Geiger also returned in qualification with fourth place, the World Cup second of 2021 on the normal hill is definitely a surprise. Philipp Raimund, who became ninth.
The five -time winner Pius Paschke remains a problem child, who only qualified as 29 for the competition of the top 50. The weak Bayer had received preference for Stephan Leyhe from chief coach Stefan Horngacher after the training rounds on Friday in a tight decision.