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Karl Geiger (Oberstdorf) is the new world champion in ski flight. In Planica, Slovenia, the 27-year-old from Oberstdorf triumphed very weakly ahead of Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud. Markus Eisenbichler (Siegsdorf) took bronze. For Geiger, the 2019 Innsbruck Grand Hill world runner-up, it is the first major individual title of his career.
“It’s indescribable, I never would have thought about it before the weekend. I’m totally stunned,” Geiger told ZDF. Most recently, he skipped the World Cup in Nizhny Tagil / Russia because his wife is very pregnant with their first child.
After four flights and more than 900 meters in the air, Geiger was 877.2 points half a meter – the equivalent of 40 centimeters – ahead of Granerud (876.7). Geiger reached 240.5 and 231.5 m on the second day. High-flying pilot Granerud had increased the pressure on the Allgäuer after 239.0 m in the third round with 243.0 at the end, but sadly he had to settle for silver.
Eisenbichler secured third place after a totally messy test race with flights at 234.5 and 230.0 m (859.3 points). In March 2019 he won the world championship title on the great hill of Innsbruck ahead of Geiger.
Geiger is the sixth German ski flying world champion after GDR jumpers Hans-Georg Aschenbach (1973) and Klaus Ostwald (1983), as well as Dieter Thoma (1990), Sven Hannawald (2000 and 2002) and Severin Freund (2014). At the seventh World Cup in Planica, however, a German triumphed for the first time.
World Cup rookie Pius Paschke (Kiefersfelden) could expect a strong 11th place (790.9) after flights at 217.0 and 213.5 m. Constantin Schmid (Oberaudorf) fell short of his performance on the first day and ranked 14th (767.7) after 209.0 and 213.5m.
In Sunday’s final team competition (4pm / ZDF and Eurosport), the German quartet is one of the favorites.
