The German ski jumpers around world champion Karl Geiger made a huge false start at the winter premiere on mats.
The protégés of national coach Stefan Horngacher had no chance at the festival of double winner Dawid Kubacki in his Polish homeland of Wisla and had nothing to do with the podium places. Geiger (129 and 125.5 meters) only managed 18th place on Sunday after he hadn’t scored any World Cup points at all on Saturday when he was 34th. “Yesterday was very sobering. We still have a lot to do,” said Geiger, who admitted his own technical weaknesses.
Things didn’t go any better for his teammates Markus Eisenbichler (21st) and Andreas Wellinger (26th). Unlike the Poles, Norwegians and Austrians, the Germans have to improve significantly during the break from competition until the end of November. Behind the euphorically celebrated dominator Kubacki, who also won the yellow jersey with 200 points, Anze Lanisek from Slovenia and Norway’s Marius Lindvik completed the podium on Sunday.
“Doesn’t run smoothly yet”
“It’s not going well yet,” TV expert and ex-jumper Sven Hannawald analyzed the first weekend of national coach Stefan Horngacher’s team. The hope of the last German winner at the Four Hills Tournament that “one is not too far away” was not fulfilled on Sunday either. Others cheered on both days on the unfamiliar green background.
The Geiger, Wellinger and Eisenbichler traded as co-favourites have a lot of tasks until the next World Cup in Ruka, Finland. On Saturday, Wellinger compared the conditions with a car that got stuck in a puddle in rainy weather. That was also a symbol for the first German weekend. “During the tour, no one talks about what happened in Wisla,” Hannawald put it into perspective.
The second row with Pius Paschke, who surprisingly was the best German twice, played an even better role than the experienced trio of leading jumpers, as expected. Geiger said on ARD with a view to Kubacki and Co.: “The top three jump spectacularly. We’re a long way away from that.”
Green mats instead of artificial snow
The green look, which replaced the usual artificial snow for the first time, was also due to the early start of the season. Because the World Cup in Qatar begins on November 20th, the World Ski Federation Fis decided to start earlier. In view of climate change, however, the use of mats could be considered more frequently in the future. “The question of the future will not be what we want – but what we can do. What can still be represented in our society? The question is: what is the right way?” said Germany’s team manager Horst Hüttel.
The only German encourager of the weekend was Olympic silver winner Katharina Althaus. The woman from the Allgäu made a mistake on Saturday, but improved on Sunday with second place. “I’m really happy that I’m on the podium now. It’s good for me to continue like this,” said Althaus. Only Austria’s Eva Pinkelnig was better, who also took over the yellow jersey of the overall leaders with her victory.
