Andreas Wellinger once again presented himself in strong form in the qualification for the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The leader in the overall ranking of the Four Hills Tournament jumped 139 meters and thus took second place.
Anze Lanisek from Slovenia secured victory in the qualification in front of 8,000 spectators. Wellinger won at the start of the tour on Friday in Oberstdorf. He carries the hopes of the German ski jumpers for the first overall victory of a compatriot on the tour since Sven Hannawald’s triumph in 2002.
“It’s extremely constant. That’s fun,” said Wellinger on ZDF. “I know what I have to do.” The 28-year-old added: “I’m having fun, I’m in a good mood. So keep going!”
Broken elevator: Children helped carry skis
National coach Stefan Horngacher was also very satisfied with the performance of his best jumper. But he still sees room for improvement in one point. “He had a bit of trouble landing. We’ll have to look at the video again. We’ll fix that for tomorrow,” he said.
The top jumpers didn’t let an unfamiliar obstacle throw them off course: because the elevator was broken, they had to climb up to the jump on foot. Children from the local ski club helped them carry their skis. “I was pretty blue at the top,” said Wellinger about the effort on the stadium microphone.
In addition to him, the eight other German jumpers also qualified for the traditional event. However, Karl Geiger did not show his full potential with a jump of 122 meters and 35th place. “Today I just skied extremely badly,” he said self-critically. The second best German was Constantin Schmid in ninth place.
