Finally back in the middle of the fight for the podium places! Andreas Wellinger recorded his best result of the season in ski flying on the Kulm and still has a lot to do.
A smile on his face after a successful jump – this was a rare sight for Andreas Wellinger this season. On Sunday (March 2nd) the time had finally come. The 30-year-old clenched his fists after jumps of 223 and 219.5 meters during ski flying on the Kulm and was happy about fifth place in the final results.
Fifth place – best Season placement for Wellinger
Wellinger has never been better in an individual competition this season. His case was brutal. The two-time Olympic champion from Ruhpolding experienced one setback after another this season and regularly missed the second round. Instead, he moved in regions between 30th and 40th place. Top ten placements were miles away.
No matter what Wellinger did – break from training or extra shifts, nothing seemed to work. With Karl Geiger he had a fellow sufferer in his own team. But unlike Geiger, Wellinger managed to qualify for the Winter Games. There he reached for a medal in the super team competition alongside Olympic champion Philipp Raimund. Because the competition was canceled due to snow chaos, the DSV duo missed gold by 0.3 points.
Season goal: One podium finish
Even though the frustration was great at that moment, the Olympics inspired Wellinger. When he returned to the World Cup, he ended up in the top ten in three of four jumps on the ski flying hill at Kulm. “It’s cool to be fighting at the front again”said Wellinger in the Sportschau interview on Sunday. The bottom seems to have been overcome and the hunger for success is great again. “At some point I want to be on the podium as a team or individually this season. That’s my job and we still have a few competitions until Planica“, he said with a view to the final spurt of the season.
Andreas Wellinger ski flying on the Kulm
Two more Ski flying World Cup stations
To be precise: four World Cup stations are still scheduled until the end of March. Wellinger can put his plan into practice in Lahti, Oslo, Vikersund and Planica. He will have noticed benevolently that there are still two ski flights to do. After Bad Mitterndorf, the athletes will fly to Vikersund, Norway (March 21-22, 2026) and Planica, Slovenia (March 27-29, 2026). The large jaws are more suitable for Wellinger, who had to struggle extremely with the new, stricter tightening regulations. The air show on Julm proved this impressively.
