Moving farewell to friend
“Saugutem” Geiger runs out of strength at the end
03/27/2022 2:04 p.m
At the top of the podium is someone else, Karl Geiger congratulates fairly. Ryoyu Kobayashi is the best ski jumper again this year, but the German made it very difficult for him to defend his title for a long time. The season ends for the DSV-Adler with several medals – and a difficult farewell.
Karl Geiger was one of the first to congratulate champion Ryoyu Kobayashi after the ski jumping miracle didn’t happen. The man from Oberstdorf ended an intense and exciting season with 16th place at the Slovenian ski flying festival in Planica and missed the first German overall World Cup victory in seven years. Geiger was no longer able to challenge the Japanese Kobayashi, who was crowned best jumper of the winter for the second time, on the final weekend. When Kobayashi’s triumph was established, Geiger rushed to his competitor in the sun-drenched paddock and congratulated him fairly.
The entire German team ran out of strength for the grand finale in spring-like temperatures and in front of a boisterous party audience. The team of national coach Stefan Horngacher had nothing to do with the fight for victory, which the Norwegian Marius Lindvik secured with impressive flights in front of the Japanese Yukiya Sato and the Slovenian Peter Prevc, on the day of the resignation of the last German overall winner Severin Freund . Horngacher also saw the end with a “smile and a crying eye” with a view to the entire season.
Geiger wanted more
The Germans didn’t get along well on the huge facility in the valley of the Schanzen from the start. In the team competition on Saturday, the German quartet only took fifth place despite the sovereign victory of the hosts. In Ziga Jelar, a Slovenian also secured the title in the Ski Flying World Cup.
Geiger flew 225 and 242 meters on Sunday. The last furious sentence made him cheer exuberantly again and go into the break with a good feeling. To overtake Kobayashi, Geiger would have had to win, and the Japanese – who finished eighth – shouldn’t have finished in the top 20.
The Eagles of the German Ski Association (DSV) experienced a good but not outstanding season. With four individual World Cup victories and numerous other strong results, Geiger was by far the most successful German jumper of the winter and showed a high level of consistency. What was missing was the really big title.
The team won silver at the Ski Flying World Championships. At the Olympic Winter Games, the team and Geiger won individual bronze – especially Geiger had hoped for more. In a season with numerous highlights, the 29-year-old missed a big goal around the turn of the year: Germany has to wait for the first Four Hills Tournament winner since Sven Hannawald 2002. Third place in the national ranking.
“Had Really Good Years”
Geiger spoke of a “great” and “exhausting” season. “It was super good this year. But there was one in front of me. That’s why: We can never stand still. It would be nice if we could still win it at some point,” he said with reference to the overall World Cup.
Freund’s performance provided particularly emotional moments. The down-to-earth and always polite Bavarian said goodbye in the last competition of his long and successful career with jumps of 190.5 and 215 meters. That was enough for 28th place. After his final flight, the German supervisors in the outrun took off their hats and carried Freund on their shoulders. “I had really good years and was able to gain a lot of valuable experience,” said the 33-year-old. Horngacher stated: “Severin leaves a big gap in the national team in terms of sport and personality.”
Freund won gold with the team at the 2014 Winter Olympics and was able to look forward to a total of eleven medals at the ski jumping and flying world championships. After several injuries, he has not been able to return to his former level in recent years. “We will miss him. It’s a shame,” said Geiger on ARD.