Dhis man is a phenomenon. At the beginning of December, Ryoyu Kobayashi could not pursue his job as a frequent flyer at all. Because of a corona quarantine, the Japanese missed four world cup competitions. But this unwanted break from art couldn’t harm his large class. On the contrary: When things got serious on Wednesday evening under floodlights in difficult conditions at the Four Hills Tournament, Kobayashi was again the measure of all things.
With his second jump, which carried him up to 141 meters on Oberstdorf’s Schattenbergschanze, he took the lead – and never gave it up. In the end, the former Grand Slam winner had 302.0 points, but the three strong Norwegians Halvor Egner Granerud (299.2), Robert Johansson (298.6) and Marius Lindvik (296.3) could not come close.
Important from a German point of view: On his home hill, Karl Geiger from Oberstdorf showed an opening competition that national coach Stefan Horngacher was “very satisfied” with. The 28-year-old from Allgäu, who won the tour at the beginning of the previous year, finished fifth behind the Norwegian trio in the 70th edition. He is 6.1 points behind fellow favorite Kobayashi. Everything is feasible, everything is solvable.
Geiger jumped ten meters shorter than the Japanese in his second attempt. But because the jury had previously shortened the run-up and Geiger had to put two hatches deeper in the track, there were corresponding bonus points. “In the first moment I was a little disappointed because I didn’t quite have the fine blade in the second,” said Geiger. “It’s okay, the tension was a little higher than expected. It was pretty good for that. “
Markus Eisenbichler also experienced a promising start to the tour. At the dress rehearsal in Engelberg went into the short Christmas break with fluctuating performances, the emotional jumper reported back exactly when it counted. Eisenbichler carried his second jump 139.5 meters down the hill. The reward was seventh place (281.1 points).
“I was able to make up a few places. That makes me very happy. Now I know where to go and security comes back, ”said Eisenbichler. With Stephan Leyhe, a third jumper from the German team also made it into the top ten. Willinger came in ninth.
Disgusting continuous rain during the qualification on Tuesday, disgusting continuous rain also in the competition on Wednesday. When the Four Hills Tournament finally started with little winter temperatures of five degrees, there were the next failures in the German team. Andreas Wellinger, who only finished 51st in the qualification, had to look on indifferently.
And when the top thirty gradually made their way to the Springer Tower at Schattenbergschanze, Constantin Schmid was missing. The junior in Team Germany, who had previously lost his knockout match against Yukiya Sato from Japan, was 31st and failed to make it into the second round via the lucky loser list.
Severin Freund, again jumped well and with a distance of 124.5 meters, clearly better than his Russian opponent Roman Trofimov, thought he was in the final – but then the controllers struck uncompromisingly. Freund was disqualified because of irregularities in his suit that did not comply with the rules on Wednesday. “It’s a shame and very stupid and bitter for me,” said Freund, “because the jump was really worth something. But of course the material also has to be right. It is well and precisely controlled. “
From a sporting point of view, Kamil Stoch’s premature retirement is a debacle for the proud, great ski jumping nation of Poland. The defending champion, next to Sven Hannawald and Kobayashi one of the three Grand Slam winners in the now seventy-year history of the prestigious tour, showed a competitive leap to be forgotten.
118 meters only, and because the Slovenian Cene Prevc only landed four meters further, the knockout was perfect for Stoch. “King Kamil” was also no longer in the finals – he is therefore out of the race for the tour victory. And because none of his compatriots, such as the former overall winner Dawid Kubacki, who only came in 28th, could not see their longstanding ability in Oberstdorf, this is a disaster for the Poles.
For the German team around front man Geiger and the revitalized Eisenbichler, anything is still possible after the start. As Geiger said days ago about a possible triumph on the tour: “It’s about time. Any one of us should get this thing now. “
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