Zhangjiakou (dpa) – On his 29th birthday, Karl Geiger interpreted his performance as at least a small step in the right direction and against the deep-seated frustration.
“I’ve got the idea for the jump now. I have to work on it, get a feeling and especially regain my self-confidence,” said Germany’s best ski jumper after his twelfth place in qualifying for the Olympic singles on the large hill.
Ironically, at the Winter Games in China, Geiger lost all of his ease and his otherwise so typical sovereignty. A botched start and the dramatic suit chaos in the mixed competition in Zhangjiakou still take the athlete, who has been used to success, for days afterwards. You can see that in Geiger’s body language and the often downward gaze. You can sometimes hear that in his quiet voice. And Geiger says so himself.
Geiger about mixed: “It was a big package”
“The mixed is still hanging somewhere in the limbs. That was a big pack,” he said. After numerous unusually weak jumps on the normal hill and 15th place in the first competition, he finally managed a good flight on Monday. The man from the Allgäu cheered, then looked at the scoreboard and the joy gave way to horror: Team colleague Katharina Althaus had been disqualified because she allegedly didn’t have the right jumping clothes, and Germany was eliminated after the first round.
Normally, Geiger is someone who is frustrated by such experiences – as he himself puts it – but do not throw them off balance in the long term. He quickly ticked off the clearly missed victory in the Four Hills Tournament around the turn of the year. In the World Cup he then got two first and two second places in the individual. He competes at the Olympics as the leader of the overall classification. However, everything seems different there.
Geiger just can’t get along on the gigantic ski jump facility in the Chinese mountains. Most attempts on the normal hill were far below his level. And also on the large hill, where the second individual Olympics will take place this Saturday (12 noon/ZDF and Eurosport) and the team competition on Monday, the training didn’t go as planned at all. The fact that twelfth place in qualifying is considered a small encouragement speaks for itself. “The games have been very, very tough for me so far,” said Geiger.
Ski jumper in Pyeongchang still with three medals
At the last winter games in Pyeongchang, the German ski jumpers won three strong medals. Andreas Wellinger won gold on the normal hill and silver on the large hill. There was also silver in the team. This time threatens an Olympic fiasco.
As for the individual, Geiger hardly seems to believe in himself anymore. He always has hope, but he doesn’t rate his chances of taking part in the award ceremony as realistic. Support the team as best as possible on Monday: “That has to be my long-term goal,” he said.
The second German medal candidate, Markus Eisenbichler, also names team jumping as the most important competition. However, the eagles of the German Ski Association in their current form are not among the favorites for a podium place there. As the best athlete of the day from national coach Stefan Horngacher’s team, Eisenbichler took sixth place in the individual qualification and was “quite satisfied”.
After the failed start at the Olympics and before the big hill decisions, his Austrian coach sat down with the team again. “We have worked through everything. Everything has been discussed,” said Horngacher. Unlike Geiger, he was confident: “There’s not much missing. We’ll get through it tomorrow with full determination.”