Thursday, January 06, 2022
Huber gets Bischofshofen
Kobayashi awards the Grand Slam, Geiger the victory
A conciliatory end to the tour for Karl Geiger. After his mistake in Garmisch, he is recovering and jumps to third place in Bischofshofen. Ryuyo Kobayashi awards the Tour Grand Slam for eternity. The Austrian Daniel Huber takes the last victory.
Japan’s overall winner Ryoyu Kobayashi missed the long-awaited quadruple victory at the Four Hills Tournament. After three victories on Thursday in Bischofshofen, the 25-year-old jumped only to fifth (133.5 and 133.5 meters) and failed with the historic second four-fold victory that no one has ever achieved before. Instead, at the end of the 70th edition of the traditional event, Austria’s Daniel Huber won ahead of Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud and Germany’s Karl Geiger, who gave up his lead at half-time after 140.5 and 132 meters. After all, in the first jump he had proven his strong form from before Christmas.
The great attention, however, belonged to Kobayashi, who on the 20th anniversary of Sven Hannawald’s historic first fourfold victory did not make a repeat from the winter of 2018/19, when he in turn won all four stations. “I am happy that I won the golden eagle. I am totally happy,” said Kobayashi and added: “I am a bit exhausted. The happiest thing is that I was able to show stable jumps all the time.” He is now receiving 100,000 Swiss francs (around 96,000 euros), and the winning prize money had increased fivefold before this winter. In the overall tour standings, the Japanese left everyone behind anyway, and after that it actually got even more exciting. Marius Lindvik finished second, Granerud came third. Geiger only made fourth place.
“Two or three things didn’t go smoothly”
Because of the wind-related cancellation in Innsbruck, it was the second Bischofshofen competition within two days. And it was a spectacular show with very long flights. The German Markus Eisenbichler (133 and 134 meters) finished eighth after a strong attempt to qualify and thus fell behind Geiger in the overall ranking. He finished fifth. “The tour didn’t go 100 percent the way we wanted it,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher in an interview with ARD. “One or two things didn’t go smoothly for us. In the sum of all things you lose too many points. I’m still very satisfied with the tour.”
In the tightly packed calendar, in which on Thursday PCR tests were necessary between qualification and competition for the coming World Cup weekend in Bischofshofen, Kobayashi did not allow himself to make any mistakes. As three years ago, he only had a narrow lead in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but it was enough for him to win three days – and clearly in the overall standings. But it was not enough for an “incredibly grandiose performance” (Severin Freund) in another four-fold series. “I really attacked,” said Kobayashi. “I’m happy that I won the golden eagle.”
“Next year is another tour”
His run does not come as a surprise to the opponents. It can be explained to a certain extent because rules such as wind and contact points ensure more justice, explained Freund. Kobayashi was taciturn about the entire tour, responding briefly and meaninglessly. When asked whether he was annoyed by the detailed daily interview procedure, Kobayashi only replied: “It’s cold.” In terms of sport, the stoic Japanese became an impossible challenge. “He can only beat himself,” said Eisenbichler. Now it turned out differently.
Geiger and Eisenbichler had missed the top performance and above all the consistency of before Christmas. “The goal was a different placement. It’s through,” admitted a seriously disappointed violinist after the first part of the Bischofshofen double. “Eisei” stated: “You learn a lot more from small defeats than if you always win.” Geiger also handed over the overall leader’s yellow jersey to Kobayashi, who will also be the top favorite in this form at the Olympics in China (February 4 to 20).
Meanwhile, the German eagles have to wait at least a 21st year since the Hannawald triumph for the golden eagle. The jubilee spent Epiphany as an ARD expert. “The memories are like last month,” noted the 47-year-old. The celebrations for 20 years of quadruple victory were all canceled due to the corona. Hannawald doesn’t mind that. “We’ll do that for the 25th anniversary,” he said. Until then, Eisenbichler, Geiger & Co. have a few more opportunities. “Next year there is another tour,” said Eisenbichler.