Ski jumping
“Am Schleuderstuhl”: Wellinger saves himself in 50th place in the qualification
Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger narrowly escapes a sporting debacle in Innsbruck. The previous dominator Domen Prevc is also weakening for the first time.
Ski jumping Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger avoided a serious defeat by 0.1 points and, as 50th in the qualification, just reached the final of the best 50 athletes in Innsbruck. The 30-year-old jumped 115 meters in the preliminary round and will face qualifying winner Jan Hörl from Austria at the Four Hills Tournament on Sunday (1:30 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport).
The overall leader, Domen Prevc, allowed himself a weakness for the first time, jumping only 112 meters with a strong tailwind and thus not getting past 30th place. The Slovenian had previously won every qualification and every competition on this tour. However, the points from the preliminary round do not count towards the overall ranking.
Wellinger: Just one more fight
When Wellinger jumped, the wind conditions were still fine. “We’re working extremely hard to find a solution that makes it easier. The flow and lightness are completely missing. I notice that as soon as I jump out of the top. From then on it’s just a fight,” said Wellinger, describing his flights on ZDF.
“It’s difficult,” added the Bavarian. Just 25 minutes before the end of the qualifying, the stadium announcer said that Wellinger was “on the ejection chair”. Only because of a mistake by Norwegian Marius Lindvik did he manage to finish in 50th place.
The top German duo Felix Hoffmann and Philipp Raimund easily qualified in front of 8,400 spectators. Hoffmann (123 meters) jumped to fifth place, Raimund (116.5 meters) came 17th. In the overall tour standings, both are still aiming for a podium place. Pius Paschke (23rd) and Karl Geiger (39th) bought their ticket for the Bergisel jumping.
“I found today to be a very positive day,” said Geiger, who missed the qualification in Oberstdorf and the second round in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
dpa
