Fortunately, the traditional Four Hills Tournament has no Olympic or World Championship character, otherwise Austria’s eagles would have to be annoyed following the New Year’s jump in front of 21,000 fans in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Despite a very strong team performance, the podium was reserved for other nations. The 27-year-old Slovenian Anze Lanisek celebrated his sixth World Cup victory – 3.2 points ahead of the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi and 4.4 points ahead of the German local hero Andreas Welinger, who is in the lead at half time.
Manuel Fettner came fourth, Jan Hörl fifth, Stefan Kraft, who is third in the overall standings, 25.2 points behind, sixth. Michael Hayböck improved from twelfth to eighth place with the longest jump of the day (141 meters), but had problems landing twice. “An acrobatic performance, but I can’t think regarding it too much now, I have to flip the switch once more quickly,” said the 32-year-old Theninger, who is eighth in the tour rankings. “Ski jumping has developed very coolly for me, that’s extremely positive, I’ll take that with me.”
The Bergisel is calling
The men of the skies are now leaving Germany behind and moving to Innsbruck’s Bergisel, where qualification for the competition on Wednesday (1:30 p.m., ORF 1) is on the program on Tuesday (1:30 p.m., ORF 1). Kraft has not yet given up the race for the Golden Eagle.
“We still have four jumps, a lot can happen. Of course it will be difficult, the deficit is already big. But now we’re coming home. I’m in very good shape and hope that the fans will cheer us on. We’ll try to to annoy the others,” said the 30-year-old from Salzburg, who has shaken off his Garmisch trauma with a series of failures in recent years. “I was nervous, but now I’m very happy. The second jump felt very good.”
The cards are being reshuffled in Innsbruck. “There is definitely a preliminary decision to be made here,” believes ORF expert Andreas Goldberger, who has won the tour himself twice as an athlete. The Bergisel Stadium is not yet sold out. Around 17,000 of the 22,000 tickets have been sold, and given Wellinger’s tour, a rush of German tourists is expected. Kraft also has a strong argument – namely first place in the World Cup.
Austria’s athletes have recorded 13 daily victories in Innsbruck, but the last one to date was eleven years ago. Gregor Schlierenzauer triumphed in 2013. Hayböck’s hill record from 2015 (138 meters) still stands today.
In any case, the signs are full of attack – also for the 38-year-old veteran Fettner, who is jumping a strong tour: “In Garmisch I narrowly missed the podium (by 2.7 points, note), maybe it will work at home on the Bergisel. ”
ePaper
Author
Alexander Zambarloukos
Sports editor
Alexander Zambarloukos
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