Olympic blues? Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that!
DSV-Adler fly onto the podium with “mega fun”.
02/26/2022, 9:28 p.m
Austria and Slovenia are just too strong, but it’s enough for third place: Germany’s ski jumpers repeat their place in the Olympic team competition at the World Cup in Lahti. Goalkeeper Karl Geiger can start with confidence in the remaining tasks.
No more crippling Olympic blues! In the best of moods, with a lot of morale and great fighting spirit, the German ski jumpers flew onto the podium again in the first team competition after the Olympics. Like twelve days earlier in Beijing, the DSV-Adler around World Cup leader Karl Geiger ended up in third place on Saturday in Lahti, Finland – and proved to be well prepared for the final phase of a long season. “It was incredibly good weather, it was great fun,” said Geiger on ARD: “I’m really happy about third place.”
National coach Stefan Horngacher, who became team world champion as a ski jumper in Lahti in 2001, said: “In the first round we missed a lot. But the boys were motivated, we fought for third place. I hope that tomorrow keep going individually.” With 1058.0 points, Geiger, Markus Eisenbichler, Constantin Schmid and Severin Freund were well behind Olympic champion Austria (1087.9), who, like in Beijing, triumphed ahead of Slovenia (1082.4).
After a moderate 121.5 meters in the first round, Geiger landed a good 125 meters in the final. Eisenbichler initially jumped 121 meters in difficult conditions and showed a very strong jump of 125.5 meters in the second run with a short run-up. “The first jump wasn’t the best, but I’m satisfied with the second,” said the six-time world champion, who won his first World Championships medal in Lahti in 2017 with bronze from the small hill.
Great expectations of friend
Schmid (121.5+127.5) shone in the final and was accordingly impressed: “The second jump was with more conviction, that was missing in the first round. The hill is super cool, it’s great fun.” The team world champion Freund, who was not nominated for the Olympics, also had it, convincing with 124.0 and 131.0 meters. However, the veteran wobbled both times when landing and dropped a few points. “He’s not quite ready to land, he still has some work to do,” said Horngacher about the veteran, who has torn two cruciate ligaments: “But his jumps are great.”
A lot can be expected from Freund in the season finale, especially at the Ski Flying World Championships in Vikersund in two weeks. Freund is the last German winner of the overall World Cup so far, Geiger could now follow him – he can take the next step in the singles on Sunday (4 p.m. on ARD and Eurosport).