Raimund falls, violinist falls in love
Disappointed Wellinger lands low on a new jump
March 13, 2024, 7:18 p.m
Andreas Wellinger with his worst result of the season, Philipp Raimund fell: Things didn’t go well for the German ski jumpers in Austria’s quadruple victory in Trondheim. In the end, Karl Geiger discovered his love for the sport.
Andreas Wellinger grumbled to himself after a day to forget, Philipp Raimund landed headfirst in the snow while attacking the podium: The German ski jumpers had a black day at the end of the Raw Air station in Trondheim. Only Karl Geiger, who had recently been so weak, still had reason to be happy after a sign of life.
“I just didn’t adjust well to the hill. That was difficult for me yesterday, but I still managed to get into the competition,” Wellinger admitted on ZDF after Austria’s quadruple victory with dominator Stefan Kraft’s daily success Coming in 28th, it was his worst result in almost a year.
The Olympic champion finished fourth in jumping on the normal hill on Tuesday. This time, with 119.5 meters, he wasted all his chances in the first round, had to tremble and only made it into the final in 30th place – but there 130.0 meters were no longer enough for a significant comeback.
Geiger: Jump was better than “some podium places”
Raimund, already a strong sixth the day before, was close to the very best at halftime in fifth place, but then wanted too much. After landing at 136.5 meters, the Oberstdorfer fell into the snow. At least he remained uninjured, but fell back to twelfth place. “It was more my fault, I wanted to squeeze out every meter,” said Raimund honestly.
The best German in the premiere competition on the newly built large Granasen ski jump was Pius Paschke in tenth place. The outstanding Austrians were far away: Kraft took his twelfth win of the season and 42nd career success with jumps of 137.5 and 134.0 meters (291.8 points) ahead of Daniel Tschofenig (290.8) and Jan Hörl (288 ,8) through.
However, the wounded Geiger made the longest jump of the day with 140.0 meters in the second round, which brought him up to 16th place. The five-time world champion had previously missed the second round four times in a row; that last happened to him eight years ago.
“The jump did me more good than some podium places,” said Geiger: “It was fun, it makes you realize why you love the sport so much.” In the Raw Air ranking, the winner of which collects 60,000 euros, Kraft leads just as confidently as he does in the overall World Cup. Despite his weak competition, Wellinger’s third place in the World Cup can hardly be taken away.
The largest ski jump in the world is now waiting for the Raw Air conclusion. From Friday we will be flying to Vikersund, on the Monsterbakken in 2017 Kraft set the still valid world record with 253.5 m. Wellinger still has some catching up to do there: he hasn’t finished in the top 10 in either the World Cup or the World Championships in Vikersund.