There was nothing to be seen. No zappler, no protruding hand, not the slightest rocking in the air. The landing was also as smooth as butter at Kamil Stoch. As in Innsbruck, it landed far beyond the landing marks of its competitors in the snow, and as clear and unmistakable as this jump, so clear was the outcome of this tour in the end.
Just a fall, or a mishap like that of the Norwegian Daniel Andre Tande, who in 2017 did not secure a ski while in the lead, could have cost Poland Stoch the victory. When he was the last to be on the top, all his opponents were long through with their competition and only had the role of the audience, which was missing in Bischofshofen, as it had been for the whole winter, due to the corona. At the end of this 69th Four Hills Tournament, they saw an instructional video again about how to fly perfectly, then Stoch swung away and let his teammates celebrate him.
In the overall standings, Karl Geiger from Oberstdorf managed to jump to second place after a victory at the debut, a deep valley in the middle of these ten days and a strong comeback at the end, while he also reached the day’s podium on the third step in Bischofshofen . “I’m really happy,” he said, “I’ve really had to nibble over the last few days, but I managed to get the tension going again.” Third in the overall standings was Dawid Kubacki, the tour defending champion and Stoch’s teammate.
It is the third tour victory of the 33-year-old Stoch, who became world champion eight years ago, seven years ago in Sochi double Olympic champion and later, especially during the tour, attracted attention. Each of his victories had something special. In 2017, the win fell into his lap because of Tande’s mishap. In 2018 he was able to prove that Sven Hannawald’s Tour Grand Slam from 2002 can be repeated with victories in all four editions. Something like that can hardly be surpassed, unless with an emotional tour victory like now, 2021.
The former tour favorite Granerud risks everything again – and is not rewarded
Right from the start, the entire series was characterized by its unpredictability. The Polish team was excluded right from the start and then resumed after negative corona tests because the health department itself had doubts about this result. At the top there was a constant change, and behind that there was also a back and forth in the placements. Marius Lindvik from Norway had to have a dental operation in between and then jumped off the table in Bischofshofen in blinding form as if nothing had happened. One of the losers in this final was Lindvik’s team-mate, overall World Cup leader Halvor Egner Granerud. He put everything on one card and tried a risky trick, namely shortening the run-up to get extra points, but it failed. Granerud even slipped off the podium in the end.
In the end, the German jumpers only had Karl Geiger as a returnee, who this time caused a sensation because nothing more could be expected of the other top jumpers of the German Ski Association early on. Markus Eisenbichler was unable to reverse the moderate tendency of his previous jumps. Only in Garmisch-Partenkirchen did he lack the feeling for the hill because his leg muscles became too hard, which means that a jumper loses the feeling for the hill and the impression in the right place. In Innsbruck it got better, but despite a higher second jump, his self-confidence seemed to remain closer to the ground.
And in Bischofshofen, on the wide hill where someone like him can fly, his system then blocked. The consequence: Eisenbichler came up at 120.5 meters, well before the green line, and missed the second round. “I had no feeling when flying,” he said later on ZDF, and then became even clearer: “That was a real bump.” And consequently: “I’ll have a couple of beers tonight.”
He and Geiger are good roommates, unless Corona distance rules apply. It can therefore be assumed that Geiger, who just got into the final round in Innsbruck with a miserable jump in the first round, had been comforted by Eisenbichler, now conversely encourages his sporty broken friend, and maybe also a couple of beers has put in – but not only out of solidarity, but also for his long and overall successful jump in the first round. It was his turn first of the evening, and he had presented the competition with a distance with which he could compete in the final as one of the leading group.
He should now have self-confidence for the tasks ahead. In two days it will continue, at the World Cup in Titisee-Neustadt. The rest of the national coach Stefan Horngacher’s team will also compete there, including Constantin Schmid, Martin Hamann and Severin Freund, who each showed an upward trend at the end in Bischofshofen. They will all get back on their feet in preparation for the World Championships in Oberstdorf in six weeks, the next major ski jumping event this winter.
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