Led by oldie Pius Paschke, the German ski jumpers got off to a good start into the new season. The victory in Kuusamo, Finland went to the Austrian Stefan Kraft, but he was followed by three DSV eagles. Pius Paschke and Stephan Leyhe made it onto the podium for the first time in their careers.
And not only that: Andreas Wellinger, who had won the qualification, jumped to fourth place, Philipp Raimund and the five-time world champion Karl Geiger followed in seventh and eleventh place. The German champion Martin Hamann rounded off the strong result of the German jumpers in twelfth place.
Former world champion Markus Eisenbichler, the last German winner in Kuusamo, didn’t even make it into the six-person DSV team. “That was a bit surprising for me too. It went really well,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher: “There are a lot of things that we did a little differently.” The 33-year-old Paschke was in fourth place after the first round – and then even made it onto the podium. However, the outstanding Austrian Stefan Kraft, who also took the yellow jersey of the leader in the overall World Cup, could not be beaten.
However, the Poles, who were so strong last season, experienced a crash: World champion Piotr Zyla (31st) missed the second round, as did three-time Olympic champion Kamil Stoch (43rd). Dawid Kubacki was the only Pole to make it into the points in 21st place.
