DSV stars make a mistake in Willingen
Wellinger spoils the ski jumping party for himself
February 3, 2024, 6:37 p.m
For the first time this season, no German ski jumper made it into the top ten. Andreas Wellinger & Co. completely disappoint at the atmospheric home game in Willingen. In difficult conditions, victory with a hill record goes to Norway.
Andreas Wellinger left the ski jumping party in the constant rain in Hesse like a confused dog, but beforehand politely congratulated the new hill record holder Johann Andre Forfang from Norway. “He was simply the best here and deserved to win today,” said the Bavarian after a partly crazy but above all completely disappointing home World Cup on the Mühlenkopfschanze.
A week after taking silver at the Ski Flying World Championships, Wellinger only finished in 17th place, making him only the second-best German behind Stephan Leyhe (15th). For the first time this season, no DSV Adler was in the top ten. “We now have to rebuild the boys. They don’t jump badly on purpose,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher on ARD.
Wellinger was still in seventh place after 138.5 meters in the first round, but fell far behind with 125.5 meters in front of 23,500 fans. “It was turbulent today, but that shouldn’t be an excuse. The jump was simply bad. If the conditions aren’t right, you’ll unfortunately land too early,” said the 28-year-old. The only consolation: With 851 points, Wellinger has at least shortened his gap in the overall World Cup to the leader Stefan Kraft (1089). The Austrian completely unexpectedly missed the second round in 39th place.
“There was a bit of over-motivation today”
The shining winner was Forfang, who set a hill record with 155.0 meters in the second round. It was only on Friday that he equaled the record in qualifying with 153.5 meters. In the first Norwegian victory of the season, Forfang was ahead of Four Hills Tournament winner Ryoyu Kobayashi from Japan and his compatriot Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal. Aleksander Zniszczol achieved Poland’s first top ten result of the season in eighth place.
In addition to local hero Leyhe, who celebrated his only World Cup victory to date on the Mühlenkopfschanze in 2020, and Wellinger, only one other DSV Adler made it into the second round. Pius Paschke was clearly behind in 26th place. “There was a bit of over-motivation today. In such difficult conditions you look old,” said Horngacher. The DSV team also experienced a dark day overall: Philipp Raimund, the former Willingen winner Karl Geiger and Felix Hoffmann had to finish early in ranks 31, 33 and 35.
The competition was characterized by numerous surprises. Antti Aalto led after the first round and was able to dream of Finland’s first World Cup victory in more than ten years for an hour. In the end, Aalto only ended up in 14th place. Numerous top stars missed the second round, including the new ski flying world champion Kraft. The veteran suffered this fate for the first time since November 2020. The Poles Kamil Stoch and Piotr Zyla as well as the Slovenian Timi Zajc were also eliminated early. Zajc fell to 161.5 meters in Willingen a year ago after a grotesque flight.