The amen in church, the happy ending in Hollywood films, the Bavarian dizzy spell – there are few things that are as reliable as Karl Geiger’s achievements. At the Ski Flying World Championships in Vikersund, the man from Oberstdorf was dethroned as world champion. After winning the silver medal in the team competition, the 29-year-old can hope for a brilliant finale of the season. In any case, Geiger goes into the duel to win the overall World Cup for the first time with the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi with a psychological boost.
The knot finally burst on Sunday. With his last jump of the weekend from the “Monsterbakken” in Vikersund, Geiger not only secured the silver medal for the DSV team. He finally found his feeling for flying again. Geiger flew and flew. And when he finally landed at 238.0 meters, the irrepressible joy broke out of him. And the relief.
With “very fine blade”
“I’m committed: Geiger’s flight was a sensation, maybe the best of the whole weekend with the conditions”, commented an equally euphoric sports show expert Sven Hannawald. And in fact, the new world champion Marius Lindvik (Norway) as well as the strong Slovenians around Timi Zajc, Anze Lanisek and Peter Prevc had better conditions with their longest jumps.
from one “very fine blade” spoke afterwards national coach Stefan Horngacher, buddy Markus Eisenbichler called the flight “a grenade“. Geiger himself enjoyed the moment, but as usual did not want to focus too much on his own performance.
The team player has to look after himself
On the outside, the Allgäuer gave the team player. One can only guess what it looks like inside. One thing is for sure: Geiger should go to the final World Cups on the ski flying hills in Oberstdorf and Planica with a lot of self-confidence. Especially at his home in Oberstdorf, he could use the home advantage and get past the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi in the overall World Cup rankings.