Back home. Back to Schwalefeld. 180 people live in the Willingen district. The most famous resident: Stephan Leyhe. It is the home of North Hesse, who has been a fixture in the team of the best German ski jumpers for years. At the highlight of the season a week ago, the Ski Flying World Championships at the Kulm in Bad Mitterndorf, Leyhe gained a lot of self-confidence for his home World Cup in the individual competition.
He came tenth – a strong placing. It’s understandable that the 32-year-old ski jumper, who has celebrated his birthday on January 5th for many years at the final of the Four Hills Tournament in Bischofshofen, felt “great” after his flights. 207.5 meters, 216.5 meters and 218.5 meters: Leyhe has continuously improved on the giant hill in Styria. “I would have liked to have done a few more flights because I really enjoy it.”
Largest natural ski jump in the world
Leyhe’s joy was clouded in the team competition, in which he had a pitch-black day and didn’t even crack the 200-meter mark on both occasions. “I got hit on the lid,” he said self-critically. “I slipped on the edge. That wasn’t good today.”
This weekend, when the world elite meets around the largest natural ski jump in the world in the Willingen Strycktal, everything can be completely different again. Leyhe knows the Mühlenkopfschanze inside out. He made countless jumps there during his career. He will never forget the two in February 2020 in particular.
Home advantage: Stephan Leyhe was born just 50 kilometers away from Willingen. There he jumped to World Cup victory in 2020. : Image: Reuters
There were two leaps into great happiness. For the first time ever, Leyhe won a World Cup competition. The 23,500 spectators at the sold-out ski jump were crazy. SC Willingen club officials cried uncontrollably with joy – and Leyhe himself, actually a calm, level-headed representative of his guild, could not and did not want to escape all the enthusiasm in Upland. In Schwalefeld, night turned into day. “It was like a fairy tale for Stephan,” remembers Stefan Horngacher, who was already the national coach of the German ski jumpers at the time.
“Willingen has always been very special for me,” said Leyhe at the Ski Flying World Championships. “I always performed solidly there.” Back when he left the Norwegian Marius Lindvik and the Pole Kamil Stoch behind in his coup, Leyhe jumped 139.5 and 144.5 meters. The facility in Strycktal became a madhouse. “If you want to introduce a stranger to ski jumping, Willingen is the ultimate for me,” says Sven Hannawald, the first Grand Slam winner in the history of the Four Hills Tournament.
Ralf Weitbrecht, Bad Mitterndorf Published/Updated: Ralf Weitbrecht, Bad Mitterndorf Published/Updated: Recommendations: 1 Ralf Weitbrecht, Bad Mitterndorf Published/Updated:
The ski jumping festival in the north of Hesse has enjoyed the reputation of being the “Party World Cup” for years. “I’m really looking forward to seeing each other again in my home country,” said Leyhe in Bad Mitterndorf. Despite his poor performance in the world championship team competition, “I come to Willingen with a feeling and an idea.”
It is the idea of Leyhe, who has lived in the Black Forest for a long time but has roots in Willingen, to do what he does best in front of his home audience: ski jumping stably, cleanly and reliably. For Leyhe there is no better place than the Mühlenkopfschanze in the Willinger Strycktal.
