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German ski jumpers with courage to Innsbruck

Halbzeit at the Four Hills Tournament. “And we are still in the show,” says national coach Stefan Horngacher. It is the day after the New Year’s jump and before the third competition on this Sunday (1.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Four Hills Tournament, on ARD and on Eurosport) on the infamous Bergiselschanze. There, high above Innsbruck, where so many dreams and hopes of German ski jumpers have melted away. Richard Freitag had tolerable experiences there, as did Severin Freund.



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Ralf Weitbrecht

For Karl Geiger, the current runner-up in the overall ranking of the Four Hills Tournament, what was once a mountain of fate has become a mountain of happiness. Two years ago, at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld, the man from Oberstdorf and his friend Markus Eisenbichler secured the team title there. Eisenbichler also triumphed in the individual competition on the large hill on Bergisel, Geiger took silver. At least since these world championship days, the Germans should have made their peace with Bergisel.

What was confirmed in the qualification on Saturday: Eisenbichler was fourth, Geiger seventh. “Eisei can do all jumps”, says Geiger about Eisenbichler, who is in wait position as fifth in the overall ranking. The gap of 23 points on the leading Norwegian Halvor Egner Granerud is big, but not too big. Geiger is better placed in the race for the Golden Eagle. Only four points separate him, and it was the right answer at the right time that the Oberstdorf winner had given with his second jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

“It was a difficult day and we had a lot of crosswinds,” said Horngacher on Saturday. “In his first jump, Karl had lost something in the flight. But in the second, he showed 95 percent what he can do. ”Geiger can do 100 percent – and he has to do so if he wants to get past the Scandinavian high-flyer in the two outstanding competitions in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen. His specialist Eisenbichler had shown how things could go.

“Markus was a little too energized in his second jump,” analyzed Horngacher. It’s what sets the three-time world champion apart. Always full capacity, always full risk. A feeling jumper who lets his emotions run free. Geiger is more controlled, more grounded – but no less focused. “Markus should jump easily,” said Horngacher. Geiger has jumped lightly and easily since the start of the tour. Even if it was “only” enough for fifth place on New Year’s Day: Geiger is still with himself. “We have already done so many good things,” said Horngacher in the German quarter in Lans.

The show should go on, and it will continue with exactly the same six jumpers with whom the Germans hopefully went on tour. In addition to Geiger and Eisenbichler, these are Pius Paschke, Severin Freund, Constantin Schmid and Martin Hamann. The others, including Friday and Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger, continue in the Continental Cup. Geiger and Eisenbichler have higher goals: They want to jump right to the front.

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