In the fight for the overall World Cup, Karl Geiger lost more points to Ryoyu Kobayashi. Despite a 232.5 meter race to catch up in the second round, the man from Oberstdorf only came 13th in ski flying in Planica on Friday (March 25, 2022). World Cup leader Kobayashi, on the other hand, flew in fifth place with 223.5 and 237 meters and increased his lead 89 counters.
A preliminary decision in the battle for the big crystal ball has been made. Ultimately, however, it will only be decided in the individual on Sunday (March 27th, 2022) who will win the overall World Cup. In order to catch Kobayashi, Geiger would have to win and at the same time the Japanese shouldn’t be better than 21st.
Four Slovenes on one to four
Despite his long distance in the second round, Kobayashi had nothing to do with the day’s win. The hosts from Slovenia fought for the podium among themselves: in a quadruple win, Ziga Jelar (232/239 meters) won ahead of Peter Prevc (226/237 meters) and Anze Lanisek (230/230.5 meters). After his lead in the first round (228 meters), Timi Zajc finished fourth (224 meters).
Andrew Wellinger: “Extremely Horny”
Only Andreas Wellinger from the German team could celebrate. After finishing 24th (220 meters) in the first round in the final, the 2018 Olympic champion flew to 241.5 meters and was only 3.5 meters below his personal best. Wellinger took the lead and moved up to 19th place.
After his strong jump, Wellinger said in the sports show: “It’s extremely cool. It’s a lot of fun to fly here. I got stuck at 220 meters the whole time. But now I jumped out of the right hatch and got the twist for it. Then it went up, that’s how high it was I’ve never been on the hill. Great flight. Then I managed to get down well. Because of me, it could go on for a few more weeks.”
Only two out of five Germans in the final
Overall, the German ski jumpers experienced a black Friday: Only Geiger and Wellinger made it into the final. Constantin Schmid (208.5 meters), Severin Freund (208.5 meters) and Markus Eisenbichler (209 meters) failed as 31st, 32nd and 34th after the first round.
Friend: “make me hard”
Schmid, who was still the best German in twelfth place in qualifying on Thursday (March 24th, 2022), was only a tiny 0.1 points short of the second round. Freund said after his 32nd place in the sports show: “I’m having a really hard time on this hill, in the trial I tried to do something a bit different. That backfired tremendously. Now you’re changing again, but when it’s so tough…”the overall World Cup winner of 2015 was annoyed.
Eisenbichler: “Not so much confidence”
Eisenbichler tried not to let his anger about missing the second round get too strong: “I’m not so self-confident today. But step by step it’s getting better. I still don’t let it spoil my mood. It’s nice weather. It’s how it is. I’ll just continue to enjoy it. It’s a nice weekend and I can’t get any further with doggedness.
Stephan Leyhe was only 41st in Thursday’s qualification and thus missed Friday’s competition.
Source: Dirk Hofmeister