Andreas Wellinger sensationally jumped to victory at the Overseas World Cup in the USA on Saturday (02/11/2023) in Lake Placid. The 2018 Olympic champion, who had already won the qualification in the afternoon, celebrated his first podium since November 2018 and his first win since December 2017 with distances of two times 129.0 meters.
When you first jump in Lake Placid since 1990, after fifth place in the first round, the German relegated the previously leading Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi (- 8.5 points) and Daniel Tschofenig from Austria (- 9.1 points). With changing winds, jump breaks and repeatedly adjusted inruns, Wellinger was lucky with the wind and ultimately had the best nerves.
Geiger in eighth place
After the first round, Andreas Wellinger, Karl Geiger and Stephan Leyhe still had good prospects in fifth, seventh and eighth place. Geiger (127.5 meters/120.5 meters) ended up eighth on his 30th birthday. “It was a really nice ski jumping day“, said the man from Oberstdorf: “It was great fun.” Leyhe (122.0 meters/115.5 meters) slipped down to 15th place.
In the competition at the site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, all six German competitors made it into the final of the top 30. But only half of the sextet fought for the front places. Markus Eisenbichler (117.5 meters/130 meters), Philipp Raimund (116.0 meters/115.0 meters) and Constantin Schmid (113.5 meters/110.0 meters) finished in 10th, 22nd and 26th place.
Eisenbichler with a strong second leap into the top 10
Eisenbichler should be encouraged by his jump to 130 meters in the second round – he clenched his fist in the run-out and was allowed to stay in the leader’s box of the current leader for a long time. After finishing 21st in the first round, he improved by eleven places. Schmid, who is still hoping for a ticket for the World Championships in Planica, was unable to underpin his World Championship ambitions.