At the first World Cup on German soil this winter, the German ski jumpers impressed. Above all, Karl Geiger and Constantin Schmid made the audience cheer.
In a competition with changing conditions, especially in the first round, the German ski jumpers showed themselves to be in good shape in front of their home crowd and, thanks to Karl Geiger, jumped onto the podium. Germany’s flagship jumper was third.
A cry of salvation escaped Karl Geiger after landing at 141.5 meters in the final. He was able to confirm his good first jump (135 meters) and, after fourth place, made it onto the podium at half-time. The Slovenian Anze Lanisek was at the top there (133.5/141 meters), for him it was the third World Cup victory of his career. Poland’s overall World Cup leader Dawid Kubacki finished second. With 144 meters he moved up three places in the second round.
Also Schmid in the top ten
Constantin Schmid, who was still favored by the wind in the first round (132.5 m), was also able to put his fists in the air after the second jump. He sailed 136 metres, securing a place in the top 10 in seventh place.”It’s a great relief and important for my head that I can also do two competition jumps cleanly. I’m really satisfied“, so the visibly happy Schmid on ZDF.
Stephan Leyhe had a harder time with the tailwind in the second round. The 132.5 meters from jump one was followed by 128 meters in the final. However, due to a wobble during landing, he fell back a bit in the result list to 15th place.
Eisenbichler still lacks the right feeling
Markus Eisenbichler was one of the victims of the dead wind in the first round (127.5 m) and tried to attack again with his second jump. With a botched landing after 128.5 meters, however, it lost a lot of points. So it was only enough for 21st place in the final. Pius Paschke, who was able to move up five positions in the second round (126/126.5 m), was right behind him.
“I’m not in the best shape yet, but I’ll continue step by step. I can’t do anything else“explained the dissatisfied Eisenbichler. “The situation is different, but I accepted it. The feeling isn’t there yet. I trust what the coaches said. My goal is the tour, so I want to be in top shape.“
Wellinger fails due to the conditions
Like many other established athletes, Andreas Wellinger was even more unlucky with the conditions. Around the middle of the first round the updraft had died down, the jury tried to compensate for this with a longer run-up, but the run-up speeds remained too low to compensate for the lack of cushion. After just one competition jump of 121.5 meters, the day was over for the 2018 Olympic champion.