Ski jumper Andreas Wellinger confirmed his top form in the qualification for the home World Cup in Willingen.
Six days after winning the World Championships silver medal in flying, the 28-year-old landed in eighth place with a jump of 139.5 m. The winner of the qualification in North Hesse was the Norwegian Johann Andre Forfang, who set the hill record with 153.0 m, and the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi, who had the same number of points.
Wellinger, who celebrated the first home win of his career in Willingen in 2017, has already been on the podium eight times this winter. The other DSV Eagles also made it into the top 50 and thus into the competition on Saturday (4:10 p.m./ARD and Eurosport).
Karl Geiger (Oberstdorf) in particular impressed in twelfth place. Felix Hoffmann (Goldlauter/18th), Philipp Raimund (Oberstdorf/24th), Pius Paschke (Kiefersfelden/32nd) and local hero Stephan Leyhe (Willingen/42nd) will also be there on Saturday.