Third place in the New Year’s competition: Wellinger defends his tour lead

Andreas Wellinger jumped to third place in the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The day’s victory went to Anže Lanišek.

The dream of winning the Four Hills Tournament lives on: With another strong performance, Andreas Wellinger secured third place in the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and remains in the lead in the overall ranking. The day’s victory on Monday (January 1, 2024) went to Anže Lanišek (295.80 points). The Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi came second (-3.2).

Wellinger: “We don’t have a dream concert”

The already narrow lead in the overall ranking melted a little more. Kobayashi Wellinger was able to gain 1.2 points and is now traveling to Innsbruck with a 1.8 point lead. “It was a competition that was extremely close. Rarely have we had such a close gap in points. Now I’ve managed it again by making two good jumps. The new year got off to a good start”said 2018 Olympic champion Wellinger at the ARD microphone. Looking at the ski jump in Innsbruck, the Bavarian said: “It’s been a hard road. I’m looking forward to Innsbruck. We’re hoping for fair conditions and the best ski jumper will win. Of course I’d like to be at the top on January 6th. But we don’t have a dream concert. We have to keep working .“

Violinist 16th: “I will improve”

After his 16th place, Karl Geiger probably has to bury all hopes of a top placement at the Four Hills Tournament. In addition to the 23.9 points that Geiger was already behind Wellinger in the overall standings, another 30.7 points were added in Garmisch. Nevertheless, Geiger promised for the Innsbruck jumping: “I will improve myself”.

Pius Paschke was the second best German in tenth place, Stephan Leyhe was 13th, followed immediately by Philipp Raimund.

Exciting finale, complicated conditions

In the final, Manuel Fettner, fifth in the first round, presented a difficult task for the following jumpers with a strong jump. Wellinger held his ground, showed another almost flawless jump and moved 3.7 points ahead of Fettner. But the lead didn’t last long. In complicated conditions, Anže Lanišek delivered a set of 137 meters – with bonus points, he moved ahead of Wellinger.

The external conditions did the rest. Despite a strong tailwind, Hörl had to start. The complicated wind conditions made it virtually impossible to get into the top ranks and so the Austrian ended up fifth.

Kobayashi had to wait a long time for permission to start – and was rewarded. Conditions improved noticeably. But it shouldn’t be enough for the sentence at the front. Neither for the day’s victory nor for the overall ranking.

Good Team performance of the DSV

Overall, the DSV team can be satisfied with the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Eight of the nine German starters qualified for the final round.

Pius Paschke convinced again. With two good jumps he landed in the top ten. Stephan Leyhe also showed a good performance, although he was not able to fully confirm his good impression from the first round, which he finished seventh, in the final. But with 125 meters he sailed to 13th place with a strong tailwind. A good result.

Philipp Raimund, who had lost a top position in the first round due to a wobbly landing, showed a very good second round, landing at 139 meters and temporarily taking the lead. “The first one really bothered me. The landing was really bad. I’m more than happy with the second one. It was a good start to the new year”said Raimund on ZDF. In the end it was enough for 14th place, just ahead of his teammates Geiger (16th) and Constantin Schmid (17th). Martin Hamann came in 24th, Felixx Hoffmann was 30th.