In the end, no one at the Mühlenkopfschanze could really believe it: ski jumper Andreas Wellinger beamed with joy and cheered into the crowd and let the home crowd celebrate his World Cup victory. Ski jumper Katharina Schmid was also beaming one day after her 50th World Cup podium.
The triumphant at the big and consistently wet ski jumping party in the Sauerland was Wellinger thanks to a comeback in the second round in continuous rain on Sunday evening after a tough competition.
“I noticed that the jump was really good. But I only believed that it was enough to win after the last jumper,” said Wellinger after he moved up six places with a jump to 149 meters. He triumphed ahead of the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi and the Swiss Gregor Deschwanden.
“Not jumped cleanly enough”
Things hadn’t looked good at all the day before. At the start of the home game, the German jumpers showed their weakest performance of the entire winter. Local hero Stephan Leyhe, who celebrated his only World Cup victory to date on the Mühlenkopfschanze in 2020, only ended up in 15th place as the best German on Saturday. Wellinger came 17th, Pius Paschke flew in 26th place.
Philipp Raimund (31st), Karl Geiger (33rd) and Felix Hoffmann (35th) even missed the final of the best 30. They shared their fate with the Austrian overall World Cup leader Stefan Kraft. With 122 meters, he didn’t make it into the second round for the first time in the season. “We didn’t jump cleanly enough and then you quickly look old,” analyzed national coach Stefan Horngacher.
Geiger misses the final
But he could only be really happy with Wellinger on Sunday. Leyhe (11th), Paschke (25th) and Raimund (26th) fell a few places back in the second round. Geiger (31st) and Hoffmann (36th) missed the final again. That was even in jeopardy for a short time, as the constant rain affected the inrun lane and the wind repeatedly caused delays.
The difficult conditions will last the whole weekend. “The problem is that the trail floats along,” said jumper Selina Freitag. However, neither the weather nor sixth place could dampen the mood of her teammate Schmid.
“I am more than happy. “That was my best weekend in the World Cup,” said the 27-year-old after her third place on Saturday. With a strong comeback, Schmid improved by six places on Saturday, as did his teammate Wellinger on Sunday, and celebrated her second podium finish of the winter.
Forfang fights back tears
“With a season like this, third place almost feels like a victory,” said Schmid. Selina Freitag (14th/10th), Luisa Görlich (15th/12th) and Juliane Seyfarth (18th/20th) scored World Cup points on both days. Exactly eleven years to the day after her first World Cup victory, Austrian Jacqueline Seifriedsberger won on Saturday. A day later, the Norwegian Silje Opseth won after jumps of 141.5 and an incredible 150 meters.
Julian Sieler, Willingen Published/Updated: Ralf Weitbrecht, Bad Mitterndorf Published/Updated: Recommendations: 1 Ralf Weitbrecht, Bad Mitterndorf Published/Updated:
Things went even further this weekend for her compatriot Johann André Forfang. In his victory on Saturday, he set a hill record with a jump of 155.5 meters and cheered in front of more than 23,000 ski jumping fans with tears in his eyes. “The scenery is really a dream, thanks to everyone who was here until the end in the terrible weather,” said the soaked Wellinger at the end.
