German ski jumpers with courage to Innsbruck

Halbzeit at the Four Hills Tournament. “And we’re still in the show,” says national coach Stefan Horngacher. It is the day after the New Years jump and before the third competition this Sunday (1.30pm on the FAZ live ticker for the Four Hills Tournament, on ARD and on Eurosport) at the infamous Bergiselschanze. There, high above Innsbruck, where so many dreams and hopes of German ski jumpers have faded. Richard Freitag had tolerable experiences there, as did Severin Freund.

For Karl Geiger, the current runner-up in the Four Hills Tournament overall ranking, what was once a mountain of destiny has become a mountain of happiness. Two years ago, at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld, the man from Oberstdorf and his friend Markus Eisenbichler won the team title there. Eisenbichler also triumphed in the individual competition on the great Bergisel hill, Geiger took silver. At least since these world championship days, the Germans should have made their peace with Bergisel.

What was confirmed in Saturday’s qualifying: Eisenbichler was fourth, Geiger seventh. “Eisei can do all the jumps,” Geiger says of Eisenbichler, who is in the holding position as fifth overall. The 23-point difference with Norwegian leader Halvor Egner Granerud is big, but not too big. Geiger is better positioned in the race for the Golden Eagle. Only four points separate it, and it was the right answer at the right time that the Oberstdorf winner had given with his second jump at Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

“It was a tough day and we had a lot of crosswinds,” Horngacher said Saturday. “On his first jump, Karl had lost something on the flight. But in the second, he showed 95 percent of what he can do ”. Geiger can do it 100 percent, and he has to if he wants to beat the Scandinavian driver in the two standout races in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen. His specialist Eisenbichler had shown him how things could go.

“Markus was a little too energetic on his second jump,” Horngacher analyzed. It is what distinguishes the three-time world champion. Always at full capacity, always at all risk. A feeling jumper who lets his emotions run. Geiger is more controlled, more ingrained, but no less focused. “Markus should jump easily,” Horngacher said. Geiger has been jumping lightly and easily since the start of the tour. Even if it was “only” enough for fifth place on New Years Day: Geiger is still with himself. “We’ve already done so many good things,” Horngacher said in the German quarter of Lans.

The show should go on, and it will continue with the exact same six jumpers that the Germans hopefully went on tour with. Besides Geiger and Eisenbichler, these are Pius Paschke, Severin Freund, Constantin Schmid, and Martin Hamann. The others, including Friday and Olympic champion Andreas Wellinger, remain in the Continental Cup. Geiger and Eisenbichler have higher goals: They want to jump straight to the front.