Four Hills Tournament
“That is striking distance”: Karl Geiger is fifth in the opening competition
Didn’t look happy after his second jump: Karl Geiger
© Daniel Karmann / DPA
In the rain of Oberstdorf, Karl Geiger got off to a good start on his tour. The nervous ski jumper feeds hopes for the first German overall victory at the Schanzenspektakel in 20 years. The previous year’s champion drops out prematurely.
Karl Geiger hit his thighs disappointed in the pouring rain in Oberstdorf. At the interview marathon shortly after a fair hug for the winner Ryoyu Kobayashi, the 28-year-old was able to place his fifth place at the start of the 70th Four Hills Tournament positive again. “Fifth place – I’ll put it this way, that’s striking distance,” said Geiger, looking at the narrow gap of just over three meters on Kobayashi. Geiger kept his chance of the first German overall victory on the tour since the triumph of Sven Hannawald 20 years ago.
“That was a good debut now”
“The starting position is still good and we will continue talking in Garmisch,” said the local hero after his jumps on 131.5 and 131 meters, looking ahead to the New Year’s event. “That was a good debut now.” National coach Stefan Horngacher also assessed the result of his greatest hopeful as positive. “He jumped very well,” he said. “I’m very happy with him. He solved it very well. He’s not far away with the points.”
The fact that Geiger ended a series did not particularly bother the coach given the tight backlog. Since the 2017/18 season there has always been a DSV eagle on the podium at the start of the tour. Behind high-flyer Kobayashi, the Norwegians Halvor Egner Granerud and Robert Johansson took second and third place.
A winter wonderland with snowflakes and white slopes was denied to the athletes at the start of the anniversary tour. In front of empty stands and in uncomfortable weather, Kobayashi, Geiger & Co. still offered the fans a spectacular jumping show in front of the screens, which could be carried out quickly and without problems.
The nervous violinist has been in world-class condition throughout the season and is not very susceptible to negative external influences. The balanced father of a daughter compensates for pressure or difficult weather conditions confidently and apparently effortlessly. Only once this winter did he finish below fifth. He was already on the podium five times this season after an individual competition, twice even at the top.
Feelings of home on the Schattenberg
The jumping facility on the Schattenberg is something very special for Geiger, not only because of his sense of home and the fact that his wife and many acquaintances are there to help out during the jumps. Last year he won the start of the tour here. At the world championships in February and March Geiger won four medals, two of them gold. The thoughts of such moments still help him today.
Unlike Geiger, his friend Eisenbichler can only call up his best performance this winter very sporadically. A fall at the Summer Grand Prix threw the emotional Siegsdorf driver off his feet. Again and again you see Eisenbichler quarreling and cursing after his jumps this season. At the start of the tour he had little reason to do so. “Yeah,” shouted Eisenbichler after his second jump to 132.5 meters and waved his fist cheerfully. “The second jump was just as I imagined,” he commented on his performance. Seventh place was a decent result. Eisenbichler was the second best German. Stephan Leyhe finished ninth, Pius Paschke jumped to 26th place.
It was bitter for Severin Freund. The 33-year-old was actually doing well in the competition with a jump of 124.5 meters and would have scored his first World Cup points this winter. However, he was disqualified because of a non-compliant suit.
Stoch only jumps 118 meters
The touring ambitions of a fellow favorite also suffered a significant damper: for the Polish ski jumping superstar and previous year’s tour winner Kamil Stoch, the competition surprisingly ended prematurely after a jump of only 118 meters.
Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger wasn’t even there. After placing 51 in the qualification on Tuesday, he was only left with the role of a spectator. Wellinger, Stoch and their colleagues have the next chance to do better on New Year’s Eve. Then it continues with the qualification for the traditional New Year’s jumping in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
