As Slovenia’s next ski jumping party reached its climax, the disappointed Germans were left only as spectators. Andreas Wellinger applauded the air show by Timi Zajc and his colleagues.
For Wellinger and the German team, the brilliant World Cup ended with a clear defeat. “Fifth in the team, that annoys us,” said the 27-year-old on ARD. Defending champion Germany was a long way from the targeted medal.
“It’s bitter,” said Geiger. “It’s the first time I’ve been there that we don’t win a medal as a team. It wasn’t an easy day today.” Early in the competition he, Wellinger, Markus Eisenbichler and Constantin Schmid were behind the top trio. Slovenia won in the picturesque valley of the Schanzen ahead of Norway and Austria.
“That probably cost us the medal”
In addition to the class that was missing in comparison with the best on that day, there was also bad luck for gamblers. In order to catch up, national coach Stefan Horngacher shortened the run-up in the second round before Eisenbichler’s jump and hoped for bonus points. Eisenbichler would have had to jump 131 meters for this, but jumped just too short: the 31-year-old landed after 130.5 meters.
“At first I thought it was enough,” Eisenbichler said on ARD. He was still cheering right after his jump. “That probably cost us the medal,” said Eisenbichler, who was annoyed about the process before the inrun was shortened. “Perhaps a hatch would have been enough,” he said. “It wasn’t agreed with me either. That’s also a bit of a shame.” He was comforted by his girlfriend, who was there live.
“We calculated it beforehand and said that if we still want to win a medal, we have to take some risks,” said Horngacher. There was no radio contact with Eisenbichler. While the Slovenians celebrated euphorically, the coach had a long discussion with his athlete.
Around 5,000 fans created a festive mood and cheered euphorically on their heroes around individual world champion Zajc. Geiger’s wife Franziska and his little daughter Luisa were also excited about the hill. However, the two-year-old was not yet able to do much with her father’s sport. “She just plays here, enjoys and has fun,” said Franziska Geiger and laughed.
Very successful World Cup for the DSV
Despite missing out on the podium, her husband and his team achieved more at the World Championships than previously anticipated. Wellinger won silver and Geiger bronze in the individual on the normal hill. In the mixed team, the two Bavarians euphorically celebrated gold with three-time world champion Katharina Althaus and Selina Freitag.
“It was a great World Championship. Ski Jumping Germany noticed that we still exist,” said Horngacher. “We go home happy.” Wellinger also spoke of a “cool” World Cup. “Going home with two medals is a pretty good conclusion.”
Even before the final cross-country race over 50 kilometers on Sunday, the German Ski Association can look back on a very successful event across all disciplines. DSV athletes won twelve medals in the title fights (three gold, six silver, three bronze). German athletes had never won so many medals at a Nordic World Ski Championships.
