Four Hills Tournament
“For the ass”: Wellinger’s descent shortly before the Olympics
This low comes at the wrong time: Shortly before the tour and the Olympics, Andreas Wellinger is weakening massively. A break from competition is to be followed by a quick comeback in Oberstdorf.
There won’t be a relaxed Christmas for Andreas Wellinger this year. Instead of enjoying quiet days around the festival, the German Olympic ski jumping champion says: train, train, train. Together with Karl Geiger, Wellinger completed dozens of jumps in Planica, Slovenia, and at the Olympic facility in Predazzo in order to get in shape in time for the Four Hills Tournament.
This is also sorely needed, because Wellinger’s last placings in the World Cup were: 57, 40, 47 and 39. After mutual consultation, national coach Stefan Horngacher took him out of the German team for the tour dress rehearsal in Engelberg – but, like Geiger, will bring him back for the start of the spectacle on December 29th in Oberstdorf.
“It’s certainly not their attitude. It’s more that they get too stubborn. Jumping and singing can’t be forced,” said Horngacher about his long-time top athletes, who fell into a deep performance hole this winter. Geiger feels the same way as Wellinger. He left the German World Cup team a week early.
With Wellinger in particular, the low comes as a particularly surprise. After a torn cruciate ligament, the 30-year-old Bavarian gradually fought his way back to the top in the world. World Cup silver in Planica and Trondheim as well as the tour opening victory in Oberstdorf 2023 were the highlights of a brilliant comeback. The crisis hits him at an absolutely inopportune time in a season with a tour, the Ski Flying World Championships and the Olympics in Italy.
No big touring expectations
Although the competition expects that Wellinger can quickly become one of the world’s best again. “Andi has been through a lot, he was in the Fis Cup and didn’t get any points. I don’t think I have to explain anything to him. He knows what he has to do,” said the Austrian Stefan Kraft about his long-time rival. Wellinger needs “a few units and a little distance from ski jumping, then he will quickly be well again.”
Horngacher emphasized in Engelberg that Wellinger and Geiger were his “two best jumpers in recent years” and therefore guaranteed them a starting place for the start of the tour in the Allgäu. The 56-year-old head coach also dampened expectations for the competitions around the turn of the year. “We don’t have to have high hopes for them winning the tour,” said Horngacher.
Wellinger: “Like a bird that has been killed”
It’s more about stabilizing the form. Just reaching the second round would be a start for Wellinger. The 2018 Olympic champion is always harsh on himself and his achievements. When he missed qualifying at the start in Lillehammer, he was blunt in his judgement: “At the moment I don’t have that much on my mind. It’s a fool’s errand what I did yesterday and today.”
For the last German tour winner so far, Sven Hannawald, the sporting decline is also due to the material and the tighter suits. “Unfortunately, that happens from time to time. There are jumpers who fit better into new regulations. Then there are jumpers like Wellinger who fit in and now basically nothing fits together anymore,” said Hannawald in his role as an ARD expert.
Wellinger saw too little ease and too many mistakes in himself. He repeatedly described his mistakes on the hill with vivid comparisons. “I’m hanging over the corner like a dead bird,” said the veteran at the start of the season. The basics should now be consolidated in Planica and Predazzo so that Oberstdorf looks more like Adler again.
dpa
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