Olympic centimeter thriller
DSV-Adler win bronze at the last moment
2/14/2022 2:04 p.m
In the eighth and last attempt, the German ski jumping team made it onto the Olympic podium. Karl Geiger, Markus Eisenbichler, Stephan Leyhe and Constantin Schmid win bronze behind Austria and Slovenia. A conciliatory conclusion after difficult days in China.
The German ski jumpers won the Olympic bronze medal in the team competition. At temperatures below minus 20 degrees in China, Karl Geiger, Markus Eisenbichler, Stephan Leyhe and Constantin Schmid were only beaten by the victorious Austrians and silver winners Slovenia. At the end of the ski jumping competitions on the huge ski jump in Zhangjiakou, it was the second medal for the team of national coach Stefan Horngacher. Geiger won bronze in the individual on the large hill on Saturday.
In the end, Germany had a tiny lead of just over 40 centimeters over the fourth-placed Norwegians. For Eisenbichler and Schmid, the bronze medal was the first precious metal at the Winter Games in their careers. Especially for the 30-year-old Eisenbichler, the success had an additional special component: in 2018 in Pyeongchang, the Siegsdorfer was there, but was not nominated for the team that won silver.
“I’m just through,” he said after the bronze coup in China on ARD. “I really wanted that shitty medal. That four years ago gnawed at me.” With jumps of 136 and 139.5 meters, he himself did a lot to settle his personal Olympic bill.
Compensation for the bitter end in mixed
Eisenbichler cheered exuberantly after his first attempt. At half time the team was in fourth place, but it improved again in the second round. When Eisenbichler had almost cracked the 140 meters, he roared several times. “Jaaaa” and “Yes” echoed through the almost empty stadium. Geiger completed his preparatory work as the final jumper with a jump of 128 meters and thus overtook the Norwegians who had previously been third.
For the German ski jumpers, the winter games took a positive development that had not been thought possible in the meantime. At the start, the violinist, who is leading in the overall World Cup, and his buddy Eisenbichler were still disappointing. 15th place for Geiger and 31st place for Eisenbichler on the normal hill were far below the expectations of the two Bavarians.
At the Olympic premiere of the mixed event, defeat was even tougher emotionally. Germany was on course for a medal, but individual silver medalist Katharina Althaus was disqualified along with four other athletes because of a non-compliant jump suit. The German team was eliminated after the first round.
After failed training jumps, also on the large hill, Geiger seemed unable to get out of the low, Eisenbichler practiced a kind of now-everything-does-never-matter attitude in relation to the result. Third place for Geiger and fifth place for Eisenbichler then initiated the turning point. With the bronze medal at the end, the German men’s team did not come close to the yield of the Winter Games in Pyeongchang 2018 with one gold and two silver. In view of the messed up start, Geiger, Eisenbichler, Leyhe and Schmid can nevertheless start their journey home satisfied.