DGermany’s ski jumpers around Karl Geiger and Markus Eisenbichler have to wait for the longed-for title at the Four Hills Tournament. In the third overall victory of Poland’s high-flyer Kamil Stoch, the little hill miracle did not happen in Bischofshofen on Wednesday. After jumps on 138 and 133.5 meters, Geiger made it to second place overall. “It’s a great second place,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher. “Karl is mentally incredibly strong. The others made mistakes and Karl jumped in between them. ”Geiger’s friend Eisenbichler, on the other hand, experienced a sporting debacle at the end and even missed the second round when he was 35.
Stoch’s dream of the next title seemed to have already burst in Oberstdorf, where the entire Polish team was initially excluded due to a corona case. After 22 hours of confusion, the quick return followed – and nine days later the great triumph. The Olympic champion also won the traditional final competition on Epiphany after flying at 139 and 140 meters with great aplomb.
After the furious opening success of local hero Geiger in Oberstdorf, the German team had hoped for the first overall victory since Sven Hannawald in 2002, but made several mistakes, including at the fateful facility at Bergisel in Innsbruck. Geiger shone again on Wednesday, after two strong attempts he finished third behind Stoch and the Norwegian Marius Lindvik.
The necessary race to catch up against the once again brilliant stab failed to materialize. For Eisenbichler, the tour ended instead with huge frustration. “It’s bitter, but I’ve seen something like that so often. From that point of view: I don’t get so upset anymore, ”said the Bavarian. Before that, he had scolded ZDF: “Shit” was his graduation, “a dirt jump”. Defending champion Dawid Kubacki completed the overall podium behind Stoch and Geiger.
Aviation world champion Geiger and hope bearer Eisenbichler started the tour with great ambitions and underpinned them at the start. At halftime in Garmisch, “Eisei” commented on the permanent duel with the whiz kid Granerud and the two strong Polish rivals: “The Pamperl up there, the Norwegians and the Poles, we’ll catch up with them.”
In Innsbruck exactly the opposite happened: the competition for Stoch and Kubacki, who in Oberstdorf were practically outside after the positive test by team mate Klemens Muranka, pulled away and gained the decisive advantage. On the jumps, Stoch made jumps in perfection. He always explicitly thanked those responsible around head coach Michal Dolezal that it worked at all after the turbulence. “I can only thank our coaches: They fought for us to the end.”
In the meantime, the Horngacher team could see how the mood got worse and worse during the course of the major event. While there was still euphoria among Geiger and Co. on the Schattenberg in Oberstdorf after the first German individual victory since December 2015, the traditional New Year’s competition was already dampened.
After a heavy defeat in Innsbruck, the deeply disappointed violinist hung his head, wanted to “step in everywhere” and made no secret of the fact that the first title since Hannawald was already the big goal within the team. Before the final in Bischofshofen, head coach Horngacher indicated meaningfully: “Now we have to make sure that we keep our heads above water.”
In a winter full of highlights, which began so promisingly with two World Cup victories from Eisenbichler and the Aviation World Cup gold from Geiger, the missed tour triumph is only a very small damper for the Horngacher protégés. There is not much time to think about it anyway: the home World Cup in Titisee-Neustadt is on the program from Friday, the German team will travel directly to the Black Forest on Thursday. The last highlight of the season is the home World Cup in Oberstdorf (from February 23).
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