2023-12-30 07:30:00
The German ski jumpers thrilled the fans at the start of the tour in Oberstdorf: Andreas Wellinger won ahead of Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan and Stefan Kraft from Austria.
Wellinger was already in the lead following the first round, and as the last starter in the final he withstood the immense pressure in an outstanding manner.
His set of 128 meters wasn’t the longest, but due to the difficult conditions and the outstanding poise scores, it was enough to win in the end with a three-point lead over Kobayashi. Behind Kraft, the Slovenian Lovro Kos flew into fourth place, while two other Germans landed in the top ten.
“There was a crazy lightness there”
Wellinger then celebrated his triumph in the Sportschau interview: “Winning in front of this audience is incredible, you can’t describe it in words. It just makes me extremely proud following the last few years and is certainly one of the greatest moments I’ve experienced have.” Wellinger continued: “It’s unbelievable, I’m extremely happy. There was an incredible lightness there.”
The otherwise critical national coach Stefan Horngacher enthused: “Andi’s performance was flawless, simply great. And he showed that at the most important time.”
Geiger falls back to seventh place
In the first round, all five Germans won their direct duels and were among the top 15. Wellinger celebrated the longest set by far with 139.5 meters.
Karl Geiger was also aiming for the podium in fourth place following the first round, but nothing worked for him in the second round: he landed at 122 meters and in the end he had to settle for seventh place.
Top performance from Philipp Raimund
Philipp Raimund delivered a great competition. In the second round he landed at 135 meters and jumped from tenth place to sixth place. In the first he was happy: “Simply great. To achieve my best career result here of all places, it mightn’t be better.”
Pius Paschke went into the final in ninth place and struggled a little with the lack of momentum, but in the end he was quite happy with eleventh place.
Leyhe messes up the second jump
Stefan Leyhe had to struggle with a tailwind on his two jumps, and since the Oberstdorf ski jump was never particularly suitable for him, he mightn’t compensate for that well. After finishing 15th in the first round, he fell at 119 meters in the second round and ended up finishing in 24th place.
Poland still in collective crisis
There was satisfaction in the German camp – others were perplexed. So the mysterious collective crisis in the ski jumping nation Poland continued seamlessly in Oberstdorf. Jumpers who have been established for years, like Dawid Kubacki and Piotr Zyla, jumped to distances of 112 and 113 meters that were ridiculous by their standards in the first round, but at least they still won their direct duels.
The three-time tour champion Kamil Stoch was not granted this with his also very meager 117 meters. Stoch was clearly defeated by the Slovenian Lovro Kos and, like all his compatriots, had no chance of reaching the top of the tour rankings following just one jump.
Granerud is also at the end
The overall winner from the previous season was back in touch with the ground even faster than the Polish trio. The Norwegian star jumper Halvor Egner Granerud landed at an incredible 105 meters and therefore had no chance of making it to the second round due to the lucky loser rule.
But strong from Granerud: When the jury interrupted the jumping for several minutes due to the persistent tailwind, he went to the spectators and handed out autograph cards despite his heavy defeat.
Ammann inspires – at 42 years old
The Swiss legend Simon Ammann delivered an impressive performance to the delight of the fans in Oberstdorf. At the almost biblical age of 42 for a ski jumper, following 119 meters in the first round, he managed a jump to 134.5 meters in the final in significantly better conditions – and cheered like he was in his very best times.
Wellinger now the hunted
We now continue with the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (2 p.m., live ticker at sportschau.de) as well as the two events in Innsbruck (January 3rd) and Bischofshofen (January 6th). At least on New Year’s Day, the hunted man’s name will be Andreas Wellinger: “I would say that’s a nice starting position,” he said with a grin: “The first obstacle has been overcome. The challenge for me now is that I keep jumping in the same way. If If I do that, I can stay in the role of the hunted – and then anything is possible.”
1703922644
#Hills #Tournament #Ski #jumper #Wellinger #wins #Oberstdorf
