DSV-Adler wins opening qualifying
Wellinger impressed at the start, Eisenbichler was missing
November 24, 2023, 6:28 p.m
The German ski jumpers are in strong form at the start of the season: When qualifying for the first competition, four Germans ended up in the top ten, with Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger flying away from everyone.
Olympic ski jumping champion Andreas Wellinger is in top form just in time for the start of winter. The 28-year-old Bavarian won the qualification in Ruka, Finland. With his jump of 144 meters, Wellinger left the Swiss Gregor Deschwanden and teammate Stephan Leyhe behind. In national coach Stefan Horngacher’s team, the gold winner from Pyeongchang 2018 is considered the best hope in the World Cup.
The other German jumpers Philipp Raimund (6th), Karl Geiger (7th), Pius Paschke (13th) and Martin Hamann (18th) also easily made it into the top 50. The former world champion Markus Eisenbichler, in recent years One of the DSV team’s top jumpers, who jumped to Olympic silver with the team in 2022, is missing at the start of the season: Eisenbichler did not achieve the form and results in preparation that national coach Stefan Horngacher had hoped for. The six-time world champion will also be missing at the next World Cup stop in Norway.
The first World Cup individual of the winter is on the program on Saturday (4:15 p.m.). The winner takes over the yellow jersey of the overall leader, which is a special attraction at the start. For ski jumpers it is a season without the Nordic World Ski Championships and without the Winter Olympics. The highlights are the Four Hills Tournament around the turn of the year and the Ski Flying World Championships at Kulm in Austria in January. Wellinger has already made a strong impression in preparation.