The German team was mostly in good shape on Sunday. However, Karl Geiger experienced a disappointment. Two athletes shared the victory.
Lots of light and some shade for the ski jumpers of the German Ski Association on Sunday (November 27th, 2022) in the individual event in Kuusamo. While a trio around Andreas Wellinger jumped into the top ten, Karl Geiger had worry lines on his forehead after missing the second round.
Stefan Kraft (140 and 147 meters) from Austria and Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud (139 / 145 m) shared the victory in the jumping at the Arctic Circle. Third place went to Naoki Nakamura from Japan (144 / 139.5 m).
Wellinger makes up ten places
From a German point of view, Andreas Wellinger had the most reason to be happy, especially after his second attempt. There, with a strong 143 meters and an increase of 9.5 meters, he moved up from 17th to seventh place. For the 2018 Olympic champion, it was the best result of the still young winter.
“I started with a bit of a cucumber in the qualifying jump, and then it was okay in the first round. The second was a real ski jump with pressure at the top of the edge. Then it flies easier‘ was Wellinger’s first analysis.
Paschke and Eisenbichler in the top ten for the first time
Pius Paschke was also able to improve significantly in the second round and finished eighth (132.5 / 139.5 m). Markus Eisenbichler also made it into the top ten for the first time this season. After jumps of 137.5 and 134 meters he finished tenth.
Constantin Schmid, on the other hand, had to let numerous opponents pass and on his 23rd birthday he fell back to 21st place (133.5 / 124 m).
Geiger and Leyhe don’t make it to the final
Sunday was disappointing for Karl Geiger and Stephan Leyhe, who didn’t make it into the second round. Geiger, who has always made it into the top ten in the last eight competitions on the Rukatunturi hill since 2018, indicated in the qualification what he is capable of. With 148 meters he was second there behind Granerud, who extended the hill record set by Anze Lanisek only yesterday by a further 1.5 meters to 150.5 meters.
Karl Geiger had to cope with a disappointment in Kuusamo on Sunday. (Archive)
But in the competition it didn’t fit. The 2020 ski flying world champion missed the jump and only jumped 122.5 meters. He missed the second round in 33rd place. Stephan Leyhe, who was eighth in the first round the day before, did not make it into the top 30 either.