Ski flying at home without success
Geiger messes up the mood all by himself
03/20/2022, 6:45 p.m
The victory in the overall World Cup has not been written off. At the home World Cup in Oberstdorf, however, ski jumper Karl Geiger does not seem as if he really believes in this triumph. Competitor Ryoyu Kobayashi doesn’t stand out either, but doesn’t have to catch up either.
Karl Geiger was not in a party mood. While 6,500 fans in Oberstdorf enjoyed the party atmosphere at the first German World Cup with spectators in 25 months, the local hero criticized himself after the unsuccessful attack on World Cup leader Ryoyu Kobayashi. “What I did this weekend is not enough, it’s not enough,” said the ex-world champion after finishing ninth with his buddy Markus Eisenbichler at the end of the ski flying weekend in his home country.
Three points gained, eleven lost again: The fight for the big crystal ball turns into a snail race. While Austria’s world record holder Stefan Kraft (Saturday) and Slovenia’s Timi Zajc (Sunday) triumphed on the huge Heini-Klopfer hill, both Kobayashi (ninth and sixth) and Geiger, who finished eighth on Saturday, missed the podium twice.
“I was missing a bit of luck here, but I’m not satisfied with the jumps either,” said Geiger, who had bad luck with the wind, especially on Sunday when he jumped 214.0 and 203.0 meters. World Cup leader Kobayashi is 66 points ahead of the season finale in Planica next weekend, where 200 points are still up for grabs.
Kobayashi is not yet sure of the overall World Cup victory.
(Photo: IMAGO/GEPA pictures)
“But I have to jump in at the front if I want to get something else,” said Geiger. Good omen: In Planica he became ski flying world champion in 2020 – as the first German since Severin Freund (2014), who had secured the big crystal globe in Slovenia in 2015/16 as also the last DSV eagle so far.
Resigned Friday remains last German Oberstdorf winner
After a very weak start to the weekend, the German record holder Eisenbichler found his system better from flight to flight, and after 14th place on Saturday he managed a conciliatory finish. “It was really difficult for me to get in here, I was really frustrated. But today I’m very happy,” said the 30-year-old. The former flight world champion Freund presented himself solidly with places 17 and 13. Andreas Wellinger experienced a weekend to forget. The man from Ruhpolding was unlucky twice and even failed in qualifying after 20th place at the start on Sunday.
The return of the fans – on Saturday there were even 8500 – gave Geiger and Co. a strong boost of motivation at the end of an incredibly long and demanding season. “It’s super cool that spectators were allowed to be here again,” said Geiger. Most recently, fans were admitted to a German men’s competition in the World Cup in Willingen in February 2020.
The last German winner on the Heini-Klopfer-Schanze remains Richard Freitag, who announced his retirement after 13 years in the World Cup on Saturday. “It was time to draw a line and move on. I didn’t think it would go so quickly in the end,” said the two-time world champion and eight-time World Cup winner, who has been in a deep form crisis since 2019 and actually wanted to attack again.