After his record jump the day before, ski jumper Andreas Wellinger wasn’t quite as lucky in his first individual competition after the Four Hills Tournament in Wisla, Poland. It was still enough for the podium.
Wellinger landed in third place after jumps of 131 and 128.5 meters. “I’m completely satisfied. I’ll try to keep it up,” said the tour runner-up.
The victory was won on Sunday (January 14, 2024) on the converted ski jump in Wisla by the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi (269.4 points), who jumped from fifth place to the top in the second round with 139.5 meters. Stefan Kraft (Austria, 264.3 points) finished second at the start of the PolSKI Tour after being in the lead after the first round, but retained the World Cup lead.
The ski jumpers had to contend with constantly changing winds throughout the entire competition. The approach length was changed again and again. Nevertheless, Wellinger (262.4 points), who set a hill record with 144.5 meters in the team competition on Saturday, jumped well ahead with 131 meters.
Wellinger stable even in wind
Only Kraft (132 meters) and the Slovenian Ante Lanisek (135) collected more points in the first round. On his second jump, Wellinger managed 128.5 meters despite very unfavorable conditions and maintained his podium place – also because Lanisek experienced a “crash” at 121 meters.
Four Hills Tournament winner Kobayashi had the best conditions for his second jump, having the longest distance of the day with 139.5 meters and celebrating his first World Cup victory of the season. With the winds again unfavorable, Kraft was still 1.9 points ahead of Wellinger and thus maintained second place.
Karl Geiger in the top ten
Karl Geiger jumped into the top ten in tenth place in the second round. Stephan Leyhe (12th) and Pius Paschke (17th) completed a decent German result. Philipp Raimund slipped from eighth place to 30th place in the second round. Constantin Schmid, who returned to the World Cup team after good performances, was the only German to be eliminated in the first round in 32nd place.
The Poland tour will continue with an individual competition in Szczyrk on Wednesday (January 17th, 2024) and finally two competitions (team and individual) in Zakopane (January 20th/21st).