Feared end of season
Tande’s nasty fall overshadows ski jumping qualification
January 19, 2024, 8:53 p.m
The PolSKI tour is coming to an end and things continue to run like clockwork for Andreas Wellinger. He also made a furious flight in the qualification for the final individual competition. However, the day ends bitterly for Norwegian Daniel Andre Tande.
Olympic ski jumping champion Andreas Wellinger confirmed his top form during the qualification for the final individual jump of the PolSKI tour in Zakopane, Poland. The overall World Cup runner-up from Ruhpolding landed in second place after a jump of 139.5 meters from the Wielka-Krokiew ski jump. Only World Cup leader Stefan Kraft (Austria) was better with the day’s best distance of 140 meters. “It’s fun” with Stefan, Wellinger said in the Sportschau interview. “I hope we can continue like this until the end of the season.”
In significantly better conditions than on Wednesday in Szczyrk, where the second individual jump of the PolSKI tour had to be canceled due to strong winds, the other German jumpers also survived the qualification. Stephan Leyhe (Willingen/14th), Philipp Raimund (Oberstdorf/15th), Pius Paschke (Kiefersfelden/19th), Constantin Schmid (Oberaudorf/26th) and Karl Geiger (Oberstdorf/39th), who continues to struggle for consistency, made it The entry into the competition of the best 50 on Sunday was lackluster. Before that, a team competition will take place on Saturday (4 p.m./ARD and Eurosport).
The passage was overshadowed by a fall by the Norwegian Daniel Andre Tande, who badly twisted his knee after landing. The former ski flying world champion, who was in an artificial coma after suffering serious fall injuries in Planica in 2021, is suspected of having a torn cruciate ligament. In the Poland Tour, a series being held for the first time with only an overall national ranking, Slovenia leads the last two competitions with 1,821.6 points, ahead of Austria (1,759.3) and Germany (1,742.4).