Ski jumper Andreas Wellinger secured World Cup victory in difficult conditions in Willingen. The 28-year-old was the best jumper on Sunday (February 4th, 2023) in the competition characterized by wind, rain and a lot of waiting. He moved up six places in the final. Behind Wellinger, Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan came in second place, while the Swiss Gregor Deschwanden came third. The Pole Alexander Zniszczol became a tragic figure.
Andreas Wellinger jumped to a home win in Willingen. After jumps of 139 and 149 meters, the number 1 flashed in front of his name in the final ranking. The numerous fans who had endured the wet and windy conditions celebrated another big party. He was able to hold his own by 2.0 points ahead of Kobayashi (144.5 and 146 meters), who was in second place at halftime. Deschwanden (145 m/152 m) moved up from fifth to third place.
“I noticed that the jump was really good and that I could take advantage of the conditions“, explained the happy Wellinger afterwards at the sports show microphone. He flirted with the podium a little after his jump, that “I didn’t think it would be enough to win until the last jumper.” He also thanked the spectators who attended the “Shitty weather, standing there for so long and cheering us on.“
Water causes problems for the jury
For a long time it didn’t look like the competition would end regularly. The water flowed in small rivulets down the inrun track of the Mühlenkopfschanze, the wind blew from all directions. The conditions were where you could do a lot of things, but not necessarily ski jumping. Or even watch it. Despite the conditions, more than 12,000 spectators were once again drawn to the arena in Willingen to cheer on the world-class athletes.
The mood wasn’t quite as good as in the finish area for race director Sandro Pertile, who kept standing at the inrun lane to check whether the water was draining properly. The organizers used chainsaws to cut grooves into the track as drainage, which had already suffered from the weather in the past few days. The problem on the largest ski jump in the world: a natural track is used and not a ceramic track, and this is therefore susceptible to the weather. Once the ice has melted too much, the track can no longer be re-milled.
It’s always a case of waiting
After the first round went like chewing gum, many expected a score after just one jump. But the jury tried its luck and wanted a second round. There were also numerous interruptions there because the wind was outside the corridor.
No problem for Wellinger: 139 meters was very good given his conditions in the first round. That meant seventh place at halftime. Local hero Stephan Leyhe landed directly behind him. Although the man from Willingen had a flat trajectory, he took his jump far down and only touched down his skis at 137 meters.
Zniszczol surprises everyone, but cannot maintain his position
In the second round, however, it was over for Leyhe at 132 meters. So he fell three places back and out of the top 10. Like his teammate, Wellinger had to come off the beam several times before he got the green light. But the 2018 Olympic champion kept his nerve, flew to 149 meters and was able to celebrate at the end.
The mood of Poland’s Alexander Zniszczol was completely different, as he was probably hoping for a score after just one round. At halftime he led by twelve points after a strong jump of 146 meters, and he even had a 20-point lead over Wellinger. In the final he was unable to confirm this performance and fell back to eighth place after 130.5 meters. He also missed his first World Cup victory.
Geiger continues in the negative spiral
Pius Paschke (136 m/119 m) and Philipp Raimund (130.5 m/129.5 m) also received World Cup points again for their performance in 25th and 26th place. Both lost a few places in the final.
Karl Geiger experienced déjà vu, but one of the negative kind. Like the day before when he missed the final, he didn’t get a good jump again. After 127.5 meters it was over. Again this wasn’t enough for a place in the top 30, he came in an ungrateful 31st place. Geiger was 0.3 points short of the second round. Felix Hoffmann also failed at this hurdle. After 125.5 meters he was in 36th position.