Pius Paschke, Ski Jumping World Champion in a team, has to do without the Flying World Cup in Oberstdorf at the weekend.
The 31-year-old from Kiefersfelden is unable to compete on the Heini-Klopfer ski-flying hill due to a viral illness. Martin Hamann takes over Paschke’s place in the twelve-man German team, which is led by local hero Karl Geiger.
Severin Freund, Andreas Wellinger and Markus Eisenbichler will also start with Geiger in Oberstdorf. The quartet won silver at the Ski Flying World Championships in Vikersund/Norway last Sunday.
For Geiger, it’s all about the yellow jersey for the overall leader in his home country. He’s currently second, 58 points behind Olympic champion Ryoyu Kobayashi (Japan). After the jumping in Oberstdorf on Saturday and Sunday, the season finale will take place in Planica/Slovenia from March 25th to 27th.
“The Oberstdorf ski flying hill is not as familiar to me as the Schattenberg hill, on which we regularly train in Oberstdorf,” said Geiger: “I’ve never made a training jump there. But with the whole environment, the spectators, the helpers and everything Of course we still have a certain home advantage.”