Karl Geiger flew furiously out of the crisis at the Ski Jumping World Cup in Willingen and, completely unexpectedly, celebrated his first podium finish of the season. The Oberstdorfer, who did not qualify for the Olympics, only had to admit defeat to Slovenia’s top star Domen Prevc and the Japanese Ren Nikaido on Saturday in front of 22,000 enthusiastic fans and came third. Six days before the start of the Winter Games in Northern Italy, German hopeful Felix Hoffmann also showed significant improvement again with fourth place. Andreas Wellinger, also a problem child recently, delivered his best competition of the season in sixth place.
In a turbulent competition at the Mühlenkopfschanze that was once again influenced by strong winds, Prevc once again showed his top class in his tenth win of the season: with 146.5 meters in the first and a magnificent 155.0 meters – only 50 centimeters below the hill record – the “Domenator” achieved the best distance in both rounds and won with 264.2 points quite confidently ahead of Nikaido (242.2). Geiger, who had led for a long time after 140.5 meters in the first round in a favorable wind and was only intercepted by Prevc, withstood the pressure: after 142.0 meters in the final, the 33-year-old’s first top 10 placement of the current season was perfect. Eighth place by mid-January was required for the Olympic standard – which the former world champion would have achieved with ease.
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