Ski jumper Andreas Wellinger clearly missed his third podium finish in a row at the home World Cup in Willingen. The 28-year-old had to settle for 17th place in the constant rain in Hesse, making him only the second-best German behind Stephan Leyhe (15th). The winner was the Norwegian Johann Andre Forfang, who set a hill record with 155.0 in the second round.
Wellinger was still in seventh place after 138.5 m in the first round, but fell far behind with 125.5 m in front of 23,500 fans. For the first time this season, no DSV Adler was in the top ten.
The only consolation: With 851 points, Wellinger has at least shortened his gap in the overall World Cup to the leader Stefan Kraft (1089). The Austrian completely unexpectedly missed the second round in 39th place.
Forfang, who had equalized the hill record with 153.5 m in the qualification on Friday, could not be beaten. In Norway’s first victory of the season, he was ahead of Four Hills Tournament winner Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan and his compatriot Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal.
In addition to local hero Leyhe, who celebrated his only World Cup victory to date on the Mühlenkopfschanze in 2020, and Wellinger, only one other DSV Adler made it into the second round. Pius Paschke (Kiefersfelden) was clearly behind in 26th place.
The competition was characterized by numerous surprises. Antti Aalto led after the first round and was able to dream of Finland’s first World Cup victory in more than ten years for an hour. In the end, Aalto ended up in 14th place.
Numerous top stars missed the second round, including the new ski flying world champion Kraft. The veteran suffered this fate for the first time since November 2020. The Poles Kamil Stoch and Piotr Zyla as well as the Slovenian Timi Zajc were also eliminated early. Zajc fell a year ago in Willingen after a grotesque flight of 161.5 meters – eight and a half over the hill record.
The DSV team also experienced a dark day overall: Philipp Raimund (Oberstdorf), the former Willingen winner Karl Geiger (Oberstdorf) and Felix Hoffmann (Goldlauter) had to finish early in ranks 31, 33 and 35.