After Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the ski jumpers started in Innsbruck on Friday. The Austrians impressed again in the qualification.
For the Austrian favorites, the Four Hills Tournament qualification in Innsbruck on Friday was a home game – and that’s exactly how they jumped. Jan Hörl positioned himself at the front ahead of the Norwegian Johann André Forfang and the Swiss Gregor Deschwanden.
Philipp Raimund was the best German in seventh place. Pius Paschke ended up in eighth place. National coach Stefan Horngacher summed up the day on ARD as follows: “Positive, everyone qualified. Very positive Philipp Raimund. Wellinger and Geiger didn’t quite get into the feeling.” Raimund showed “lightness and relaxedness”.
Philipp Raimund clenched his fists as he landed after 124.50 meters and shouted his joy at his jump towards the Innsbruck sky. ARD expert Sven Hannawald, who was the last German to win the tour in 2002, also praised Raimund for his performance and described it as “great” and “mega”. National coach Stefan Horngacher also clenched his fist and was happy about the successful jump. Felix Hoffmann (124 meters) and DSV talent Adrian Tittel (118.5 meters) had previously shown decent performances.
For a long time, Raimund was allowed to sit in the chair as the leader of the qualification, but then the German was replaced by Johann André Forfang. When the Norwegian reached the bottom after 127.5 meters, Raimund gave his thumbs up and expressed his respect. Hannawald also said: “That’s super clean. He showed last season how technically clean he worked his way forward. That’s why there are no excuses for Granerud when it comes to the material, it’s pure technique.”
With the latter quote, Hannawald alluded to the Norwegians’ criticism of Austria. Stefan Kraft, Daniel Tschofenig and Jan Hörl had recently presented themselves strongly, whereupon Halvor Egner Granerud suspected a material advantage was the reason (you can read more about this here).
Things didn’t go as well for Karl Geiger as they did for Raimund. The DSV eagle landed after just 120 meters and shook his head. The 31-year-old was visibly dissatisfied. He easily qualified for the competition on Friday. However, based on his gestures, Geiger had higher standards for himself. After his jump, he said on ARD about his performance: “It’s going like this. I wasn’t happy with the day, I had a hard time. Okay for today, but tomorrow it has to be better.”
Andreas Wellinger wasn’t satisfied either and tilted his head when he reached the bottom after 122 meters. His conclusion was similar to Geiger’s: he also had “difficulty” building up the right feeling.
The Austrians, on the other hand, presented themselves strongly again. Stefan Kraft landed after 129 meters. Daniel Tschofenig after 125.5 meters and Jan Hörl after 135 meters. The Swiss Gregor Deschwanden impressed with 130 meters. He said afterwards on ARD: “I’m happy that the Destiny Ski Jump in Innsbruck went very well for me today.”
Pius Paschke was unable to match the Austrians’ performance. He flew 124.5 meters. As usual, he summarized his performance sympathetically on ARD. He emphasized that it was a “successful day”. Sven Hannawald was of the opinion that the Germans should “continue to focus”: “Don’t read the newspapers, just stay with yourself and play cards and then get back to it tomorrow.”