Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Start of the Four Hills Tournament
Geiger defies weather chaos in Oberstdorf qualification
A tailor-made start in the chaos of wind and rain: In the qualification for the opening competition of the 70th Four Hills Tournament, Karl Geiger flies in second place and attacks tomorrow in terms of tour victory. Markus Eisenbichler is also doing well, nobody jumps any further. Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger has to watch.
World Cup leader Karl Geiger gained a lot of self-confidence in qualifying for the opening competition of the 70th Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf. The local hero landed in changeable wind conditions with 127.5 meters in second place and is allowed to go on Wednesday (4.30 p.m. / ARD and Eurosport) start the “Mission Tourneesieg” with a good feeling. “The journey was very pleasantly short. I like the stadium here, I like the people here. It’s nice here, even if the weather isn’t so good,” said Geiger. “I’m actually quite satisfied.”
The six-time world champion Markus Eisenbichler (Siegsdorf) jumped the daily maximum distance of 132.0 meters and was sixth because of a bad landing. Former world champion Severin Freund (Rastbüchl), who had secured a starting place through good performances in the Continental Cup, finished ninth with a jump of 126.0 meters.
Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger (Ruhpolding) experienced a bitter disappointment, who only came in at 108.0 meters and missed qualifying in 51st place. A total of six DSV eagles qualified for the competition on the Schattenbergschanze.
Pius Paschke (Kiefersfelden) was 17th, Constantin Schmid (Oberaudorf) as 20th and Stephan Leyhe (Willingen) as 38th may also attack on Wednesday. The Japanese top favorite Ryoyu Kobayashi (129.0 meters) won the qualifying effortlessly, while the Norwegians Halvor Egner Granerud and Johann Andre Forfang finished third.
The qualification was interrupted for a while after 15 out of 70 jumpers because the wind speeds of 13 meters per second were too high. It was also raining heavily. Unlike usual, no national group took part, the “second row” of the DSV-Adler will only start at the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.