A few hours after the individual, Philipp Raimund and Andreeas Wellinger performed strongly in the “Super Team” in Lake Placid on Sunday night (February 11th, 2024). In the end, 0.2 points were missing from victory.
It was an unbelievable thriller with a lucky winner: The two Austrians Michael Hayboeck and Stefan Kraft celebrated victory in Lake Placid in the young “Super Team” competition format – just ahead of the two Germans. Norway with Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang fell back to third place. The competition was disappointing for the Slovenians (Lovro Kos/Domen Prevc), who even ended up in sixth place behind Italy.
Raimund – a real stroke of luck
From a German perspective, the winner of the “Super Team” was Philipp Raimund. He was preferred over Karl Geiger, Pius Paschke or Stephan Leyhe and proved to be a stroke of luck. With three very good jumps he laid the foundation for a podium finish. Things weren’t going ideal for Andreas Wellinger until the last jump, but then he made sure that victory was within reach with 128 meters. The World Cup leader Kraft landed significantly shorter, but saved himself via the wind points and gave his team victory. “I’m annoyed about the first two jumps. Philipp did a really great job”said Wellinger on the ARD sports show.
There was also praise from the national coach. “I’m very happy with Raimi”said Stefan Horngacher and added: “He jumped well in training and qualifying and took advantage of the opportunity.”
Raimund repays trust
A few hours after the individual that the Slovenian Lovro Kos won, things got exciting again on the 1980 Olympic ski jump. In the “Super Team” only two athletes per nation jump. National coach Stefan Horngacher relied on Raimund alongside top jumper Wellinger. He almost missed the final in the individual, but then delivered a strong second jump. And even in the team – where Raimund is often left out – he repaid the trust.
As the German starting jumper, he started with a good 120.5 meters, which put Germany in third place behind Norway and Slovenia. Because Slovenia’s Kos then made a mistake, Wellinger had the chance to overtake, but with 119 meters Team Germany went backwards instead of forwards. Poland and Austria passed and were on course for the podium alongside Norway, Raimund/Wellinger were fourth after the first round.
DSV duo moves up to third place before the final
In the second round, the Pole Dawid Kubacki made a mistake and opened the door for the competition after a jump of 106 meters: Raimund jumped in and brought Germany back on track for a medal with 126 meters. Norway and Austria didn’t give up – so Germany was in third place, just like in the first Raimund jump. Now it was up to Wellinger to secure this place. At 122 meters he was on target, but the set was not outstanding. The best German jumper secured at least third place, but Japan came threateningly close, or in points terms: within six points. Austria and Norway were a little ahead of the pack.
Raimund makes Germany dream of victory
For the DSV duo, the decisive third round was actually just about defending third place against Japan. And that was successful because Ren Nikaido landed at 112.5 meters after a late jump. Raimund countered outstandingly, flying to 125 meters in difficult conditions and even putting pressure on Norway (Lindvik, 122 m) and Austria (Hayböck/114 meters). The gap to Norway shrank to 6.8 points, Austria was only 2.3 points ahead of the DSV Ski Eagles before the last jump. Wellinger had it in his hands with his last jump and delivered: with 128 meters he made a powerful leap. Kraft had the luck of the hard, but Forfang fell back to third place behind Germany.
Singles on Sunday
The World Cup in Lake Placid ends with a second individual competition on Sunday (3:15 p.m. in the live stream and ticker at sportschau.de).