Ski jumper Karl Geiger won the World Cup in Klingenthal and thus secured Germany’s first victory of the season in a thriller. The 30-year-old from Oberstdorf won on Saturday by a narrow margin ahead of the Austrian Stefan Kraft and the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi; it was the first individual victory for a DSV Adler in a World Cup competition on the Saxon ski jump.
Geiger, who had led after the first round, flew in the final with 146.0 meters to within half a meter of Michael Uhrmann’s twelve-year-old hill record. Geiger thus left Kraft, the previous season dominator, behind, who had won the first four competitions of the season. For Geiger it was the 14th World Cup victory and the first since January 2022. Kobayashi came third.
Wellinger strong again
“This is crazy, I don’t even know what to say. I would not have expected this. They were the best jumps this season,” said Geiger at the ARD microphone. And national coach Stefan Horngacher said appreciatively: “It’s just Karl, he pulls it off. He jumped exceptionally well in a difficult competition – you had to fly extremely far.”
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Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger (Ruhpolding), who achieved the best German individual result in Klingenthal in 2013 when he came second, confirmed his top form in fourth place.
Pius Paschke (Kiefersfelden), third after the first round, also impressed just behind in fifth. Stephan Leyhe (Willingen) came 14th, local hero Martin Hamann (Aue), who became German champion at the same place in October, came 29th.
