Raw Air tour podium in sight
Karl Geiger only becomes a giant after the second jump
03/14/2023 7:23 p.m
Karl Geiger flies from tenth to fifth place in Lillehammer. Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud wins and also leads the Raw Air series. Things are going rather modestly for the other German jumpers. Andreas Wellinger has to say goodbye in qualifying. For the first time in a long time.
Karl Geiger waved to the audience after his strong race to catch up, then he comforted the disappointed Markus Eisenbichler. On the fifth day of the Norwegian Raw Air Tour, the world championship third-placed violinist once again proved his morale and took fifth place in Lillehammer with a strong second flight of 133.5 m. Eisenbichler, who was still fourth at half-time, fell back to 14th place.
After the first round, Geiger was still in tenth place, then he launched an attack. “The second was really good, the first not so much. I’m very satisfied – fifth place, that’s something to be proud of,” said the German pilot. The man from Oberstdorf had already stormed from 13th place to third on Saturday in Oslo. “That was a really good jump by Karl in the second, I’m very happy with him,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher on ARD. In the overall ranking of the Raw Air Tour, Geiger climbed to fifth place at halftime as the best German.
Geiger with 1091.6 points shouldn’t be enough: local hero Halvor Egner Granerud celebrated a home win on Tuesday and leads the “Three Hills Tournament” after nine of 18 jumps with 1162.2 points just ahead of Stefan Kraft (1157.2), who also finished second in Lillehammer. Slovenia’s Anze Lanisek (1103.1) is already well behind in third place.
Wellinger already fails in qualification
Eisenbichler was inconsolable, who, as so often, only showed one good jump. Justin Lisso (Schmiedefeld) and Philipp Raimund (Oberstdorf) also collected World Cup points in places 20 and 25, unlike Stephan Leyhe (Willingen/34th). “Overall, it was a pretty good competition today,” said Horngacher.
Andreas Wellinger surprisingly failed in the qualification on Monday and missed the entry into a World Cup for the first time since December 2021. Up until then, Planica’s second in the World Championships had been well in the race as seventh in the overall standings. “It hurts us a lot,” said Horngacher.
Wellinger and Co. continue on Wednesday (7.15 p.m.) at the same place with the qualification for the competition on Thursday. From Friday the finale of the Raw Air Tour will take place at “Monsterbakken” in Vikersund. Raimund, who is in poor health, also wants to get involved there. “Actually, I feel even worse than in Oslo. I hope that I don’t ruin my ski flying and that I’ll be there to the end,” says the youngster.