Completely detached, Philipp Raimund cheered in the finish area of Falun. With a huge leap of 99.5 meters he had just broken the hill record and secured the second podium place of his career.
Only the Slovenian Anze Lanisek and the day’s winner from Austria Stefan Kraft were better on the normal hill in Sweden. It is the second podium finish for the DSV Adler this season.
DSV eagles are back
But perhaps the even more important finding: Things are looking up for almost all German ski jumpers. Philipp Raimund, Felix Hoffmann, Andreas Wellinger and Pius Paschke made it into the top twenty on the normal hill in Falun. The German ski jumpers were still a long way from that at the first World Cup in Lillehammer.
Felix Hoffmann shone again alongside Philipp Raimund. In the second round he narrowly missed the hill record with a flight of 97 meters and improved from 14th place in the first round to eighth place in the second round.
Wellinger and Paschke with good development
“We worked on the setup, jump and technique“, explained Wellinger after his best jump so far this World Cup winter, in round one, on 93 meters. The hard work was rewarded, after two zero numbers in Lillehammer, the Olympic champion returned in Falun and collected points for the first time this winter in 19th place.
Pius Paschke (91 meters / 92.5 meters) also showed himself to be more stable than in Lillehammer and achieved his best performance of the season so far with 18th place.
Karl Geiger is still flying behind
While Andreas Wellinger and Pius Paschke seem to have managed the turnaround, Karl Geiger suffered another setback. He couldn’t get going at all in the first round and, being second to last, clearly missed the final. “It’s really tedious when there’s no pressure, then what comes out comes out. Bitter, but tick it off and keep your fingers crossed for your colleagues“, the Allgäu native summed up his day at the ARD microphone.
Geiger remains positive despite the setback: “We’re over it now and will continue tomorrow. We’re working on all the parameters because we know we can do it.“This has already had an effect on Wellinger, which should also give the 32-year-old from Oberstdorf hope for the further competitions in Falun and the entire season.