Missing the Bergisel ski jump for Karl Geiger is the biggest bang of this year’s Four Hills Tournament. A lot of work awaits national coach Stefan Horngacher. All events in our tour ticker.
The podium chances for the German ski jumpers were already rather low following the half-time of the tour in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. At the time, no one might have guessed that the biggest setback for the DSV team was yet to come.
And then this: With 51st place, Karl Geiger missed qualifying for the third show jumping competition in Innsbruck – and that as a fifth place on the tour and thus the best German. In addition to the frustration that had to be overcome, the main question was: What had happened? “I can’t really put it into words, it was intense. Actually, the first two training jumps were okay, but I didn’t catch the one in qualifying at all. Then Innsbruck is tough”, analyzed Geiger in the ‘ARD’.
» Event overview: schedule & information regarding the Bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck
The Bergisel ski jumping didn’t bring any impetus to the DSV team either. Only Philipp Raimund pulled out of the affair with 13th place. Nevertheless, national coach Stefan Horngacher stated in the ‘ARD’ that he was “definitely not at a loss”. “We have discussed and analyzed a lot lately. We already know some wheels that we need to turn,” he explained. But he didn’t want to reveal what those are, instead pointing out “that you first have to shoot a lot before you know if it’s right.”
On January 2nd, the second day of rest, a new dynamic developed in the debate regarding the introduction of the Four Hills Tournament for women ski jumpers. Horst Hüttel, Sports Director World Cup at DSV, had rushed forward with an announcement in the context of the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. According to this, the women should already be jumping in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberstdorf next season despite the postponement of the tour. Whether Olympic champion Ursa Bogataj will be there is highly questionable: She suffered serious knee injuries at the final of the New Year’s Tourduring the Overall victory went to Eva Pinkelnig.
In tour ticker there skispringen.com an overview of all the news regarding the Four Hills Tournament: the big and small, the important and less important messages. Here you will always be informed!
