World Cup opener in Finland without Markus Eisenbichler

Wonderful white winter world. Anyone who looks at Finland these days will end up in snow. In Kuusamo, in the north-east of the country, everything is ready for the ski jump artists. In the bitter cold we go over the Bakken again. The Ruka ski jump is the venue for the start of the World Cup in ski jumping (first jumping on Saturday, 4:15 p.m., on ARD and Eurosport). “The panorama is a dream. The cold, the snow – I’m looking forward to it,” says Andreas Wellinger.

Wellinger is back. The 2018 Olympic champion, who fell into a hole due to injuries in previous years, has fought his way back. Together with fellow world champion Karl Geiger, he forms the top team of the German ski jumping team. If you’re looking for the third party, you won’t find it.

Fine-tuning the flight system

Markus Eisenbichler is out. Actually an impossibility. But the German record world champion is not on track. The performance is not right, and because national coach Stefan Horngacher was committed to the performance principle during his work at the German Ski Association (DSV), Eisenbichler has to continue to fine-tune his form and flight system in order to eventually make it into the six-person World Cup team. Discussed and decided is that the emotional jumper Eisenbichler will be left out at the start in Finland and at the subsequent Norwegian stop in the Olympic venue Lillehammer. Conversely, this means: Only those who have proven themselves at the German championships in Klingenthal are allowed to jump in the far north of Europe.

In addition to Wellinger and Geiger, these are Philipp Raimund, Martin Hamann, Pius Paschke and Stephan Leyhe. Sports director Horst Hüttel is particularly pleased that someone like newcomer Hamann is part of the leading sextet. “You can see that even from our course group 1b, which Ronny Hornschuh leads, you can come in with a very high level,” he says. “That’s our philosophy.”

Currently one of the German high flyers: Andreas Wellinger: Image: AFP

Wellinger and Geiger showed at the last World Championships in Planica with second and third place in the individual that they are the most consistent and best jumpers in Team D. “I’m fit and have a really good feeling because I’ve already shown some jumps at a high level,” says Geiger. It’s the same game year after year. The fine-tuning of the flight system presents jumpers and trainers with constantly recurring challenges. What was perfectly harmonized yesterday can be on the rocks today. “We are a sensitive winter sport,” said the Oberstdorf violinist, but he is optimistic “that I have refined my system in the transition to flight.”

Victories in the World Cup? Last winter there was a shortage for the DSV Adler. Only two World Cup successes represent the weakest season in eleven years. Fifth place in the national rankings seems downright disastrous. German ski jumpers haven’t been this bad as a team for 15 years. At the prestigious Four Hills Tournament, German names did not appear at all among the top ten. Wellinger was eleventh overall. So now the restart.

The fact that the long-distance hunting is not starting in Poland this time, but in Finland, can have a beneficial effect. “I’m really looking forward to Finland. Kuusamo is a place that I really like,” says Wellinger. The man who won the only two German World Cup victories last season. Despite all the setbacks, the now 28-year-old Bavarian has retained his youthful lightness and relaxedness. He was in Mauritius in the spring. In autumn he enjoyed the sun on Mykonos.

He has noticed with good will that the team’s young talent is on the rise. “The more people come along, the more meticulous the old people become,” he said at the DSV’s outfitting event in Munich and concluded: “This is the only way we can win together.” For years, Wellinger was the young wild one. Now he belongs to the circle of the established and established. National coach Horngacher says: “He is jumping at a significantly higher level than last year. I strongly assume that Andi will be able to have a clear say this year.”

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Ski jumping is Wellinger’s passion. “It’s the sport I love,” he says. Every now and then he puts the long bars in the corner so that he can ride over waves on his surfboard instead. But the true love lies in the fascination of the ski jump. He fights meticulously for this and doesn’t let anything or anyone bend him. Regarding a possible helmet design without sponsors, Wellinger says: “I think it’s absolutely stupid. I believe that winter sports will be ruined in the long term.”

It’s not that far yet. The logo of a business supporter will be visible on Wellinger’s helmet, as well as on the helmets of the other ski jump artists from Europe and the Far East. To kick off this wintry weekend in snowy Kuusamo.