Totally missed!
In the qualification for the New Year’s competition (Sunday, 2 p.m., live ARD/Eurosport), tour hope Karl Geiger (29) only jumped 119 meters – 30th place!
Geiger: “I really didn’t make the jump. It happened but I’m qualified. The plan is simple: I have to jump better in competitions.”
Co-tournament favorite Dawid Kubacki (Poland) won ahead of Slovenian Anze Lanisek and Timi Zajc.
And suddenly a (still) completely unknown young eagle is the best German: Youngster Philipp Raimund (22/Oberstdorf) showed his skills, 126.5 meters means 9th place, Constantin Schmid was 10th!
National coach Stefan Horngacher (53): “Raimund has youthful madness, he flies well and is fun.”
Raimund: “My jump can still be improved, but right now it’s just fun.”
Darts World Cup Van Gerwen zerlegt Landsmann
Geiger is currently 10.4 meters behind the leader Halvor Egner Granerud (26/Norway), who also showed nerves in qualifying and finished seventh with 126.5 meters: “I like the role of hunter. Now it’s all regarding attacking,” said the DSV-Adler, who himself was surprised by his good jumps in Oberstdorf. “It was just good following things hadn’t gone that well this winter.”
But following the performance in the Garmisch qualifier, Geiger has to appear completely differently on Sunday if his tour dreams are not to burst.
Horngacher: “It wasn’t ideal. But we’re not stressed. Both Geiger and Wellinger had slight problems on the approach, but we remain positive. Karl knows exactly what he has to do and we’ll screw everything up on New Year’s.”
Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger (26) is still looking for top form, following 6th place in Oberstdorf he ended up 19th in the qualification in Garmisch.
World Champion Markus Eisenbichler missed the final in Oberstdorf, things went better in Garmisch, following qualifying rank 14 he says: “I was very disappointed following Oberstdorf. I retired and had a small beer. Now the feeling is slowly coming back.”
These German eagles are also present in Garmisch: Pius Paschke, Stephan Leyhe, Felix Hoffmann, Martin Hamann and Luca Roth.
