Monday, January 03, 2022
Qualification: three Germans in the top ten
Kobayashi clearly flies DSV eagles away
The third jump of the Four Hills Tournament is considered to be decisive, the Bergisel as a special challenge. Front runner Ryoyu Kobayashi wins the qualification and looks almost unbeatable. Three German jumpers make it into the top ten in Innsbruck.
The German ski jumpers Karl Geiger and Markus Eisenbichler mastered the qualification at the Four Hills Tournament in Innsbruck, but did not jump right at the front. Geiger flew to 119.5 meters and thus finished tenth, Eisenbichler, who was second in the New Year’s Eve, was also solid on the infamous Bergisel with 119 meters (eighth place). “The day wasn’t so bad. The qualifying jump could have been better, but all in all okay,” said Geiger.
The Japanese overall leader Ryoyu Kobayashi, who jumped 126.5 meters, secured victory in the qualification. Tomorrow, Tuesday (1.30 p.m. / ZDF, Eurosport and in the live ticker at ntv.de), the third of four jumping competitions is on the program in Innsbruck. Eisenbichler had made a dream jump in training that morning and had flown 139 meters. “Markus had a first-class jump in training. I think it was a nice day for him,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher. The attempt does not count as a hill record because it was not an official competition jump.
In addition to Geiger and Eisenbichler, all five other athletes also qualified for the Bergisel jump. Severin Freund was the best German in sixth and also benefited from the intensive summer training in Tyrol. “It definitely helped for me. It’s a separate hill, so it can help to come up with a concept in the summer,” commented Freund on ZDF. Stephan Leyhe (24th), Constantin Schmid (25th), Andreas Wellinger (44th) and Pius Paschke (50th) are also there.
Defending champion Kamil Stoch from Poland, who was in poor shape, missed qualifying in 59th place. In the overall standings, Kobayashi is clearly ahead of Marius Lindvik (Norway) and Lovro Kos (Slovenia). Eisenbichler is fourth, almost twelve meters behind, Geiger is about 18 meters behind in sixth.